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HINTS 



DESIGNED TO REGULATE 



THE 



INTERCOURSE OF CHRISTIANS 



By W. B. SPRAGUE, D. D. 

PASTOR OF THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN ALBANY. 



ALBANY: 

PRINTED BY PACKARD AND VAN BENTHUYSEN, AND 

SOJiD BY THE BOOKSELLERS GENERALLY. 
,,c 

1834. 



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Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by Jo- 
seph Alexander, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the 
United States, for the Southern District of New- York. 



CONTENTS 



PREFACE, V. 

PART I. 

INTERCOURSE OF CHRISTIANS WITH EACH OTHER. 

CHAPTER I. 
Object of christian intercourse, 1 

CHAPTER II. 
Grounds of christian intercourse, 13 

CHAPTER HI. 
Hindrances to christian intercourse, 23 

CHAPTER IV. 
Mode of conducting christian intercourse, . . 37 

CHAPTER V. 
Occasions of christian intercourse, 45 

CHAPTER VI. 
Opportunities for christian intercourse, 55 

CHAPTER VII. 
Christian intercourse in the family, <••••• 65 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Christian intercourse of youth, 77 

CHAPTER IX. 
Christian intercourse between the higher and lower classes, S7 



IV 

CHAPTER X. 
Epistolary intercourse among christians,. . . • • 99 

CHAPTER XI. 
Perversion of christian intercourse, 109 

CHAPTER Xn. 
Obligations to christian intercourse from the peculiar charac- 
ter of the age, 123 

PART II. 

INTERCOURSE OF CHRISTIANS WITH THE WORLD. 

CHAPTER I. 
The christian's intercourse with the world in the common 
concerns of life, 133 

CHAPTER II. 
The christian's intercourse with the world in the social cir- 
cle, 151 

CHAPTER III. 
Considerations prohibiting the christian from the gaieties of 
the world, 165 

CHAPTER IV. 
Pleas of the professed christian for mingling in the gaieties of 
the world, considered, 183 

CHAPTER V. 
Responsibility of christians in the higher walks of life, in re- 
spect to the prevailing conformity to the world, 205 

CHAPTER VI. 
The christian's intercourse with the unrenewed sinner in re- 
spect to his salvation, • 219 



PREFACE. 

The design of this little work is to aid the general ef- 
ficiency of the church by an attempt to elevate the stan- 
dard of christian character. In contemplating the inter- 
course of professors of rehgion in various conditions, and 
in different relations, the author has gone over a some- 
what extensive field of christian duty ; and the minute- 
ness with which some points are treated is owing to his 
conviction that, while they enter deeply into the forma- 
tion of a consistent religious character, they receive firom 
the mass of christians a degree of attention by no means 
proportioned to their importance. He is willing to hope 
that the young christian especially may here find some 
hints which may serve to put him on his guard against 
certain courses to which his circumstances may peculiar- 
ly expose him, and which are almost sure to issue in a 
grievous state of backsliding. 

The author has often felt the need of some little manu- 
al on this subject to put into the hands of professors of 
rehgion, but had never even thought of attempting to 
furnish one, until it was suggested by a circumstance too 
unimportant to be here noticed, which occurred within his 



VI 

own pastoral experience. The reader will scarcely need 
be informed that it has been prepared in great haste, 
though the author is not disposed to urge this as an apolo- 
gy for its imperfections ; and he certainly would not have 
given it to the world, had he not indulged the hope that 
it might prove in some degree acceptable and useful to 
the christian public. 

Albany, April 15, 1834. 



PART I. 



INTERCOURSE OF CHRISTIANS WITH EACH OTHER. 



CHAPTER I. 

OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN INTERCOURSE. 

It is the part of -wisdom to have distinctly before us, 
in whatever we undertake, some worthy and useful object. 
Actions performed at random, and without reference to 
any important end, may no doubt often lead to highly 
beneficial results ; but we expect the greatest amount of 
good will be accomplished, where the mind has fastened 
upon some noble object, and habitually directs its efforts 
to it, as means to the attainment of an end. This gene- 
ral remark applies to the subject on which we are enter- 
ing : if christians will contemplate to the best advantage 
the duty which is to be presented and urged in the fol- 
lowing pages, or if they will set themselves to the per- 
formance of it in the most acceptable and useful manner, 
they must hold vividly to their minds the great ends it is 
designed to accomplish. To show what these ends 
ARE, is the design of the present chapter. They may 

be reduced to two : 

1 



1 . The religious improvement of the individuals imme- 
diately concerned. This improvement has respect both 
to the intellect and the heart ; or to knowledge and feel- 
ing. 

There is scarcely any thing more surprising, than the 
amount of ignorance which exists in the church, in re- 
spect to the great truths of religion. And this ignorance 
is, by no means, exclusively, or even chiefly, to be found 
among professors in the humbler walks of life ; on the 
contrary, it is quite as frequently met with in circles of 
general intelligence and refinement. There are, at this 
moment, men in our country, who occupy important sta- 
tions in civil society, and are thoroughly versed in law 
and politics, and can plead eloquently in defence of the 
rights of their fellow-men, and who withal come to the 
communion table as often as it is spread, who are yet mere 
striplings, and scarcely more than babes, in the know- 
ledge of divine truth. On great questions of national poli- 
cy, their opinion possesses an almost oracular authority ; 
but in respect to the system of divine truth, there is scarce- 
ly a child in the sabbath school but could teach them ; 
and scarcely an adroit heretic, by whose wiles they might 
not be taken. And hence it comes to pass that not a small 
number who are distinguished for general intellectual cul- 
ture, and have been educated to respect religion, and per- 
haps have even made a profession of it, have either gone 
over to blank infidelity, or have settled down so near its 
borders as to hold intimate communion with it. If their 
minds had been pre-occupied with the great truths and 
principles of Christianity, there would have been some 
security against this disastrous result : at least infidelity 
or error never could have gained the ground without a 



sharp conflict with their previous convictions ; but as they 
had no convictions except of the most vague and feeble 
kind, it required but a breath to dissipate them, and leave 
an open field in which the infidel or the heretic might 
scatter his tares, with all but an assurance that they would 
take effect. 

The ignorance of divine truth to which I have referred, 
is the result of that melancholy practical indifference 
which prevails so extensively in the higher circles of so- 
ciety, to all the great interests of religion. But the same 
evil exists under other circumstances, in which it is to 
be referred to a very different cause. There are profes- 
sors of religion, and no doubt true christians, who take 
up the erroneous idea, that religious knowledge makes 
but an unimportant element in the christian character ; 
and with some confused notions of the teachings of the 
Spirit, as if they were designed, in some degree, to super- 
sede the written revelation, they place an improper reli- 
ance on supernatural aid, and in their religious reflections 
and conversations, never think of ranging beyond a little 
circle of common places. With persons of this descrip- 
tion, the great and almost the only desideratum is strong 
and glowing feeling ; and without stopping to inquire 
whence it originates, or what are the elements of which 
it is composed, they too hastily conclude, whether it ex- 
ists in themselves or others, that it indicates a true rege- 
neration. And some, in the blindness of their zeal, will 
even discourage the diligent study of God's word as un- 
necessary ; and will elevate their own impressions and 
feelings far above this infallible standard. I do not say 
that there are no persons of this general description who 
have knowledge enough of divine truth to be brought un- 



der its sanctifying influence ; but surely, if they are chris- 
tians, they are christians of a dwarfish stature, and will 
even be saved so as by fire. 

But it is unnecessary to go more particularly into the 
causes o£ this ignorance of divine truth which prevails 
so extensively among professors of religion : sulEce it to 
say that its existence is unquestionable ; and that just in 
proportion as it exists, it mars the beauty of christian 
character, and hinders the progress of evangelical piety. 
Never was there a more false and dangerous maxim, than 
that '' ignorance is the mother of devotion :" she is the 
mother of fanaticism, of superstition, of delusion ; but 
the spirit of genuine devotion knows her only as an ene- 
my. It can never be too carefully borne in mind that the 
truths of the bible constitute the principles of religious 
character ; and that whatever may be the strength of the 
feelings which we call religious, if they are not brought 
into operation in view of divine truth, they cannot be con- 
sidered as the exercise of the right spirit. An individu- 
al may indeed have much religious knowledge, and his 
feelings may be all wrong notwithstanding ; but while 
he remains in bondage to ignorance or error, though he 
may have much feeling, it were an absurdity to suppose 
that it should be the operation of a principle of evangeli- 
cal piety ; or if it be admitted that a principle of piety 
has ^been implanted in the heart, the vigor of its exer- 
cises will only be in proportion to the small amount of 
truth which has gained a lodgment in the understanding. 

Let it be remembered, moreover, that, as it is the ten- 
dency of important truth of every kind, received into the 
mind, to invigorate the faculties, and fit them for more 
intense and successful application, so this is especially 



true of the great doctrines of religion ; for there is nothing 
within the reach of human intelligence which partakes so 
much of the grandeur of the Divinity ; and these truths, 
we know, occupy the ever brightening faculties of angels, 
and will occupy the minds of the redeemed, while they 
expand in the beauty and strength of an endless renova- 
tion. If it is desirable to the christian then that his in- 
tellectual powers should grow brighter and stronger, as 
part of his preparation for mingling in nobler employ- 
ments and with higher orders of intelligence, when he 
shall have passed within the vail, surely it becomes him 
now to discipline his faculties by vigorous exercise, and 
especially by fixing them in devout contemplation on those 
wonderful truths of the divine revelation into which an- 
gels desire to look. 

Is it not obvious then that the gaining of religious know- 
ledge, and the consequent improvement of the intellectual 
powers, is an object worthy to be kept in view in the in- 
tercourse of christians ? Supposing them on an equality 
in respect to the vigor of their powers and the extent of 
their acquisitions, still, by bringing their minds in contact 
upon these great and interesting subjects, it is scarcely 
possible but that they should reflect some new light upon 
each other, and quicken each other's faculties into bright- 
er and bolder exercise. But where there is a great in- 
equality between the individuals, the one being highly 
improved, the other comparatively ignorant, there may 
be an opportunity furnished even by a brief season of in- 
tercourse, for blessing and being blessed, for imparting 
and receiving knowledge, which may contribute to the 
permanent improvement and elevation of the character, 
far beyond our highest conceptions. 



But if the improvement of the intellect is to be kept 
in view in the intercourse which christians have with each 
other, so also is the culture of the heart : if the attain- 
ment of religious knowledge is to be regarded as a wor- 
thy object, not less so surely is the growth of religious 
feeling. And here the first thing to be considered is, that 
it should be genuine religious feeling that is aimed at ; for 
every evangelical affection has its counterfeits ; and some 
of these counterfeits bear so strong a resemblance to the 
feeling which they attempt to imitate, that a superficial 
observer will not readily mark the difference between 
them ; and hence no doubt many are fatally deceived in 
the estimate which they form of their own experience ; 
while some true christians doubtless count much upon 
many of their exercises as being highly spiritual, which 
are really to be referred to nothing beyond an ardent tem- 
perament, or some other peculiarity in their physical con- 
stitution. True religion, though it begins in the under- 
standing, has its seat especially in the heart ; and where 
there is habitually no feeling, it is safe to conclude that 
there is no religion ; though it is equally certain, on the 
other hand, that there may be much feeling, and yet the 
heart be an utter stranger to all genuine impressions of 
divine truth. 

Let it be the object of every christian then, in ming- 
ling with his fellow christians, to get his own gracious 
affections quickened into livelier exercise, and to endeavor 
to cherish and improve the graces of the Spirit in those 
with whom he associates. Suppose you are in a state of 
great spiritual prosperity ; and experience daily the com- 
fort of intimate communion with God ; and are success- 
ful in your conflict with temptation ; and are going rapid- 



ly forward in a career of spiritual enjoyment and active 
usefulness — But still you need the benefit of christian 
intercourse, to enable you to retain the prosperity which 
you enjoy ; and more than that, let your prosperity be as 
great as it may, you have but a partially sanctified heart, 
and you are liable every moment to be brought into cap- 
tivity to the law of sin, and you need the aid which you 
can derive from your fellow christians, to carry forward 
the work of your sanctification. If the love of Christ 
is already in your heart, you need to have it more richly 
shed abroad there : if the graces of humility, and charity, 
and faith, and hope, have been wrought in you by the 
Holy Spirit, you need to have them brightened into purer 
and more vigorous exercise : if you have had strength to 
resist the temptations, and discharge the duties, to which 
you have been called hitherto, you need to have your 
strength increased in the prospect of duties still more ar- 
duous, of temptations still more formidable, which may 
present themselves to you hereafter. And if it were a 
supposable case that you needed not the aids of christian 
intercourse, yet this surely is not true of your fellow chris- 
tians ; for not only are they, like yourself, but partially 
sanctified, but many of them are timid and need to be en- 
couraged ; are wandering and need to be reclaimed ; are 
exposed to grievous temptations and need to be admon- 
ished ; and by mingling with them, though you should 
receive no good yourself, you may be instrumental of com- 
municating blessings the value of which you are unable 
to comprehend. 

There is no grace of the christian character which is 
more directly fostered by the intercourse of which I am 
speaking, than brotherly love. Scarcely any thing is more 



8 

important than this to the general growth of piety ; for 
while it is in itself an essential part of piety, and looks di- 
rectly towards the perfect love and blessed communion 
that reigns in heaven, it unites the hearts and hands of 
christians in those exercises and operations which have a 
direct bearing on the growth of every part of christian 
character. It is this delightful affection indeed which con- 
stitutes one of the main springs of christian intercourse ; 
but christian intercourse in its turn warms this affection 
into a more lively exercise. It is possible, no doubt, for 
a professor of religion to mingle with his fellow professors, 
and yet this effect of which I am speaking, not be realized ; 
but it is not possible that this should happen, if their in- 
tercourse is conducted on truly evangelical principles. 

Let no one suppose that, because in the preceding re- 
marks, the culture of the intellect and the culture of the 
heart have been separately considered as objects of chris- 
tian intercourse, therefore they are always to be kept dis- 
tinct from each other in the efforts which are made for 
their attainment. The truth is that they are, to a great 
extent, inseparably connected ; and necessarily imply and 
involve each other. For suppose it be the immediate ob- 
ject of a meeting of christians to aid each other in the ac- 
quisition of religious knowledge — the truths which are 
thereby lodged in the mind, and which serve to invigorate 
the faculties, are also the elements of sanctification ; and 
the greater the amount of religious knowledge that is gain- 
ed, the greater the means of the christian's growth in 
grace. Or suppose the object to be more immediately to 
quicken each other to a higher tone of christian feeling — 
This must be done by rendering divine truth more vivid 
and impressive, so that the very effort to reach the heart 



9 

is felt first by the understanding ; and then there is a re- 
flective influence of the heart upon the intellect ; for the 
warm glow of the affections is thrown back upon the in- 
tellectual powers, so that there is, to a great extent, a 
corresponding vigor and intensity of operation. Many a 
christian has been mounting up in his spirit towards the 
perfect purity of heaven, while he has scarcely thought 
of giving himself to any thing beyond intellectual con- 
templation ; and on the other hand, many a christian has 
had his views of divine truth greatly enlarged, and has 
kindled with fresh desires of intellectual improvement, 
while his immediate aim has been to get his soul bathed 
by christian intercourse with the reviving influences of 
divine grace. 

2. The other great end that should be kept in view in 
the intercourse of christians with each other is, the salva- 
Hon of men, and the advancement of the cause of Christ 
in the world* 

If christians mingle together with a right spirit, there 
will be an indirect influence exerted towards the attain- 
ment of this end, by their increased zeal and spirituality. 
As the flame of divine love burns more brightly in their 
hearts, religion will come out with more powerful attrac- 
tion in their lives ; and wherever they are, the world 
will be compelled to take knowledge of them that they 
have been with Jesus. And though this influence of a 
holy life is silent, scarcely any thing else is so powerful : 
though the wicked may turn away from pious counsels 
and instructions, and may resist every direct effort that is 
made for their salvation, there is something so consistent 
and beautiful in the life of a devoted christian, that even 
the scoffer cannot always withstand its influence ; ,and no 



10 

doubt this has often been used by the Holy Spirit to bring 
the sinner to repentance, when every other means had 
proved unavailing. And where the general deportment 
of the christian is, in a high degree, exemplary, and his 
heart is strongly set on the promotion of the best interests 
of his fellow men, there will be, along with a general 
course of holy living, direct vigorous efforts for their sal- 
vation. Let christians then in their intercourse with each 
other, endeavor to strengthen each others' good resolutions, 
and quicken one another in the divine hfe, not merely 
with reference to their own progress in comfort and holi- 
ness, but with a view to their carrying with them into the 
world a more impressive example, and mingling to better 
purpose with the multitude who forget God. 

But christians in their intercourse are to aim at this ge- 
neral object in a more direct manner : they are to be fel- 
low helpers in devising and executing plans which are 
intended directly for its advancement. They are to re- 
port to each other respecting the wants and the woes of 
their fellow men, as they may have come within their 
knowledge; and endeavor to impress each other more 
deeply with the great obligation of sending the gospel to 
the ends of the earth. They are to stir each other up to 
nobler purposes and plans of benevolence ; and wherever 
there is a spirit of backwardness discovered, it is to be 
rebuked ; and each one is to be made to feel, so far as pos- 
sible, his personal responsibility ; and the greatness of the 
cause, and the certainty of its ultimate triumph, and the 
magnitude of the difficulties to be overcome, and the glo- 
ry of being a co-worker with God and with angels, are 
each to be held up in turn, and pressed upon the heart and 
conscience, as so many powerful incentives not to be weary 



11 

in "well doing. Look abroad and see what has already 
been done for the conversion of the world ; witness the 
wonderful plans which are now in such successful opera- 
tion, and which are carrying the blessings of salvation 
rapidly all over the earth ; and believe me, almost every 
part of this blessed machinery had its origin in christian 
intercourse ; and not a small part of it in the casual meet- 
ings of two or three individuals. Is not this then an ob- 
ject still to be kept in view ? Ought not christians in their 
intercourse to be more deeply impressed with the obliga- 
tion of doing good ? Is there not much reason to believe 
that they have met and associated to little purpose, if no 
useful plan has been suggested, no quickening influence 
imparted, no new desire awakened, for the benefit of the 
world, and the advancement of the Redeemer's cause ? 

And now. Christians, let me entreat you to commune 
with your hearts in reference to the past, and resolve up- 
on increased fidelity in respect to the future. You may 
have enjoyed the privilege of intercourse with each other 
for many years — let me ask you whether the legitimate 
objects of it have been, in any good degree, accomplish- 
ed in your experience ? Has your intercourse served to 
increase your stock of religious knowledge ; to enlarge 
your views of the glory of the gospel ; to invigorate your 
faculties, and lead you to aspire to intellectual as well as 
moral perfection ? Has it contributed to strengthen with- 
in you the principle of piety ; to cause you to abound 
more in the graces of the gospel ; to aid you in your con- 
flict with corruption within and temptation without ; to 
fasten your affections more intensely upon heaven as your 
final home ? And what effect has it had upon your use- 
fulness — has it served to increase the purity of your ex- 



12 

ample before the world, and the vigor of your efforts for 
the salvation of your fellow men ? If conscience answers 
that these objects have been but imperfectly attained, and 
that your mind is clouded with ignorance when it ought 
to be enlightened ; that your affections are going out after 
the world when they ought to be going up to heaven ; that 
your arms have been folded in comparative apathy, when 
you ought to have been actively engaged in helping for- 
ward the great cause of truth and salvation ; then it be- 
comes you to awake to better purposes, to more vigorous 
efforts, to a holier example. Henceforth improve the 
privilege of christian intercourse in such a manner, that you 
shall be constantly going forward under its influence in 
a career of knowledge, piety and usefulness. Remember, 
Christian, that it is one of the great means which a gra- 
cious Providence has allotted to thee for attaining to the 
fulness of the stature of a perfect person in Christ ; and 
for doing thy part towards carrying into effect the great 
purposes of everlasting love. Improve it then diligently 
and faithfully ; with thine eye and thine heart fixed upon 
thy Saviour's honor, the salvation of thy fellow men, 
and thine own everlasting reward. 



CHAPTER 11. 

GROUNDS OF CHRISTIAN INTERCOURSE. 

No one who inspects the operations of his own mind, 
or observes the development of character in others, can 
doubt that the social principle constitutes one of the pri- 
mary elements of human nature. It discovers itself in 
the infant while it is yet in the arms of its mother ; and 
though it may be directed by education, it can never be 
annihilated without an essential change in the constitution 
of man. But though it belongs essentially to our nature, 
it does not belong to it exclusively ; for if we ascend the 
scale of being, and mount up into the dwelHng place of 
angels and seraphs, we find its operation there ; or if we 
descend into the lower ranks of creation, and watch the 
beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and even the 
reptile that creeps upon the earth, there too we discover 
unequivocal evidences of the existence of the same princi- 
ple. So far as we know, man possesses it in common 
not only with all rational, but all sensitive beings. 

This principle is the foundation of all human inter- 
course ; though its operations are of course modified by 
the intellectual and moral qualities with which it is asso- 
ciated, and the circumstances in which it is brought into 
exercise. It may and often does operate in bringing to- 
gether persons of opposite tastes, and tempers, and habits ; 
but more frequently its influence is manifest in associating 

2 



14 

those whose dispositions and circumstances are in some 
important respects alike. Hence we find that persons 
of vulgar habits usually herd together ; and on the other 
hand, men of enlarged minds and elevated characters 
will scarcely breathe freely in any other than enlightened 
and dignified society. So too the christian delights most 
of all in communion with his fellow christians. And the 
reason is, in each case, that there is something possessed, 
or aimed at, in common, which brings the social principle 
into operation. In respect to the disciples of Christ, there 
is an identity of relation, of character, of pursuit, and of 
destination. 

1. Christians are attracted to each other by an identity 
of relation* They sustain the same relation to the great 
Father of mercies. Not to refer here to the relation 
which they in common with all other beings, bear to him 
as their Creator, they have been peculiarly the objects of 
his everlasting love. He has written their names in the 
book of life ; has guarded and led them by a most wise 
and gracious providence ; and has made provision for their 
complete and eternal redemption. Jesus Christ has died 
that he might be their Saviour ; and having passed through 
the grave into heaven, he now lives to plead the merit of 
his own blood as the ground of their acceptance ; and the 
destiny of each disciple is safe, because it is lodged in his 
hands. The Holy Ghost has been sent down as their 
Sanctifier and Comforter ; — to dissipate their darkness, to 
rebuke their despondency, to cheer them in their sorrows, 
to help their infirmities, to confirm their wavering hopes, 
and lead them onward to an eternal rest. Every chris- 
tian sustains the same relation to God ; as having shared 
in everlasting love, having been bought with redeeming 



15 

blood, and subdued and sanctified by almighty grace : 
Surely such a hallowed and blessed relation to the Head 
must constitute a delightful bond of union among the mem- 
bers. 

But christians sustain the same relation also to the 
church, or the whole community of the redeemed. Each 
one is a member of this great family ; and all, whether 
in heaven or on earth, are brethren. Each one may re- 
cognise all the rest as fellow heirs of the same grace, and 
destined at last to partake of the same glory. Each may 
see reflected in the rest his Redeemer's image ; and in 
those who are already glorified, may see it shining in the 
perfection of beauty. To the members of the church on 
earth every christian sustains the relation of a fellow tra- 
veller through the wilderness ; of a companion in conflicts 
and trials, as well as in supports and consolations ; and 
to the members of the church in heaven, the relation of 
a brother who has already begun to taste the joys of that 
redemption, which has actually been consummated in their 
immortal glory. No matter though you may be the weak- 
est and the obscurest christian that has a place on the 
earth, you enjoy an honor in comparison with which all 
the distinctions of the world fade away — that of belong- 
ing to a family which is to reign in a blissful and ever 
enduring triumph. I ask again, is not here a foundation 
for the most hallowed intercourse ? Is there not good 
reason why children of the same family should mingle in 
intimate communion ? 

So also they sustain a common relation to the world - 
Though they are not now of the world, yet they once 
were ; they had no better hopes, and were sustained by 
no higher consolations, and were living for no more worthy 



16 

ends, than are the multitude around them who are at this 
hour exposed to the wrath of God. But through the in- 
fluence of divine grace, they have had their feet taken 
out of the horrible pit and the miry clay ; and they are 
living habitually with this world under their feet, and a 
better world in their eye. Nevertheless they retain a 
deep impression of the wretchedness of their former con- 
dition, as well as of the grace that has rescued them from 
it ; and by their own practical acquaintance with the evil 
of sin, they estimate the guilt and the ruin of those who 
are still under its dominion. Though they are citizens 
of another country even an heavenly, they still retain to 
the unrenewed world the relation of brethren of the same 
family ; and there rests upon them a common obligation 
to do all they can to reverse and elevate their destiny. 
And is not here also a reasonable ground for intercourse ? 
Are christians surrounded with those who not only pos- 
sess a common nature with themselves, but in many in- 
stances are allied to them by the strongest ties of kindred, 
and are yet exposed to an everlasting ruin ; — would ^it 
not be strange indeed if they were not strongly attracted 
to each other from the circumstance of their sustaining 
this common relation ? Is there not something here that 
appeals irresistibly to their common sympathies, and is 
fitted to lead to a community of purpose and effort ? 

2. There is also an identity of character among all 
the disciples of Christ. 

True there are circumstantial differences between the 
characters of different christians ; owing to a variety in 
their intellectual and moral constitutions, in the circum- 
stances in which they are placed, in their efforts to advance 
in piety, and in the measures of divine influence of 



17 

which they are the subjects. Nevertheless, in all the 
essential features of their character, they are alike. They 
have all been slain by the law, and shut up to the faith 
of Christ. They have had a principle of holiness im- 
planted in their hearts, which, though, at first, feeble in 
its operations, is gradually growing stronger, and is desti- 
ned ultimately to have the complete dominion of the in- 
ner man. They are sharers in a common conflict. The 
heart still retains a degree of corruption, even after the 
gracious principle has been introduced ; and the renewed 
nature has to struggle with indwelling sin, until the last 
remains of it are finally exterminated. They have in 
common all the graces of the gospel ; — repentance of sin, 
confidence in the Saviour, love to God, submission to the 
divine will, joy in the Holy Ghost, and hope in the ever- 
lasting covenant. They have in a degree the same mani- 
festations of a Saviour's love when they enter into their 
closets to commune with him ; or when they go up to his 
courts to worship him ; or when they surround the com- 
munion table in honor of his sacrifice ; and while they 
know what it is sometimes to have the light of God's 
countenance intercepted, they also know what it is to have 
the joys of his salvation restored to them. Many of them 
may indeed have so much of imperfection and corruption 
remaining, that it may be a matter of great doubt whether 
they have ever received the lineaments of the divine 
image ; and possibly even some of their fellow christians 
may feel painfully constrained to rank them with the 
world ; but still they have the elements of a character 
which will certainly expand into the brightness of hea- 
venly perfection. They have all been cast into the divine 
mould, and sooner or later the likeness to their Redeemer 

2* 



18 

will become so strong that it will be recognised in any part 
of the creation. Here again, who will not say that it is a 
most delightful reason for intercourse among the followers 
of Christ, that amidst all their varieties of condition, their 
character is substantially the same ? 

3. Christians are engaged in the same great pursuits. 

As it respects themselves, the great end they have in 
view is to reach the fulness of the stature of perfect per- 
sons in Christ. They are laboring to subdue their inter- 
nal corruptions ; to gain a more complete ascendency over 
the world ; to attain a more thorough conformity to the 
holy principles and precepts of the gospel. Instead of 
being satisfied with past attainments, it is their constant 
desire to grow in grace, and to press forward to the mark 
of the prize of the high calling of God. And as it re- 
spects others, their grand aim is to do them good ; and 
especially to aid their preparation for heaven. They see 
sinners perishing in multitudes on every side, and they 
know that what they see is but a drop measured against 
the ocean, compared w^ith the mighty ruin which this 
great world presents ; and their hearts throb with anxious 
desire that this crowd of immortals may be turned out 
of the path to destruction. They open the Bible, and 
there contemplate the promises of God in respect to the 
final triumph of the great cause of redemption ; the as- 
surance that the heathen shall be given to Christ for his 
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a 
possession ; and here again their hearts kindle with earnest 
desires for the accomplishment of this great object. And 
there is not a christian on earth with whom these are not 
the commanding objects of pursuit ; — not one who does 
not, on the whole, seek with supreme desire the glory of 



19 

God in his own complete sanctification, as well as in the 
general advancement of the Redeemer's cause. 

And while all christians are seeking substantially the 
same great ends, the means which they employ for the 
attainment of them are also the same. They all use the 
same weapons in their spiritual conflict; they take to 
themselves the armor of God, and put on the breast-plate 
of righteousness, and take hold of the sword of the Spirit, 
and protect themselves by the shield of faith ; and thus 
equipped, they are sure to gain the victory. In their en- 
deavors after a higher degree of sanctification, they rely 
ultimately on the same blessed truth, and on the same 
divine influence ; well knowing that every effort which 
is made in their own strength will obstruct rather than 
aid their progress in holiness. And in the assaults 
which they make upon the empire of Satan, and in the 
efforts they put forth for the extension of Christ's king- 
dom, they are animated by a common impulse, and ad- 
dress themselves to their work in substantially the same 
manner. They labor with diligence and assiduity ; but 
they rely especially on humble and importunate prayer ; 
because this is the key to the store house of heaven ; and 
they know that without God's blessing, their efforts to 
destroy the kingdom of darkness, and advance the king- 
dom of light, will be utterly unavailing. 

And is it so that christians every where have their 
hearts set upon the same great objects, and are using sub- 
stantially the same instrumentahty for the attainment of 
them.^ Then, surely, there is a solid basis for christian 
intercourse. There is enough to bring them together, 
and bind them together, in sweet and sacred commu- 
nion. 



20 

4. And christians have in prospect a common inheri- 
tance. As thev are sharers too:ether in the trials and con- 
flicts of the present state, so they rejoice together in the 
anticipation of an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 
Not one of them but expects, so long as he continues in 
the world, to find it a vale of tears ; and not one but is 
destined, as soon as he has passed out of it, to enter a re- 
gion where all tears are wiped away. He sends his 
thoughts a Httle way forward, and the conflict with sin 
is still going on, and the burden of sorrow is pressing 
upon his heart ; but at a point not very distant, he per- 
ceives that that conflict has ceased, and that burden is re- 
moved, and the fields of immortality are opening upon 
the eye, and the praises of redemption are trembling on 
the ear, and the soul thrills with burning ecstacy amid the 
glories of its everlasting home. It is the privilege of eve- 
ry believer, let his circumstances here be as they may, to 
anticipate a throne, and a crown, and a harp of glory, and 
a union with seraphim and cherubim, the moment the 
hitherto imprisoned spirit has escaped from its earthly 
tabernacle ; and then, through all the ages of eternity, to 
be undergoing a perpetual transformation from glory to 
glory. And shall not they who have such hopes and 
prospects in conmion, who are severally waiting till their 
change come with the grateful expectation that they will 
mingle together in an eternal communion of joy — shall 
not they find reason enough for bearing each other's bur- 
dens, £Lnd being fellow helpers unto the kingdom of 
God? 

Christians, you surely cannot doubt that there is a 
foundation in the identity of your relations, your cha- 
racters, your pursuits, and your prospects, for an habitu- 



21 

al intercourse with each other. Keep these various con- 
siderations then in your mind, and it cannot fail to render 
that intercourse at once profitable and delightful. Are 
you tempted at any time to indulge a spirit of coldness 
and suspicion towards any one who, whatever his infirmi- 
ties may be, yet gives evidence of being a true disciple ? 
Let that unhallowed feeling die under the thought that 
you are turning away from one who has been the subject 
of the same undeserved mercy, has been redeemed by the 
same blood, and born of the same Spirit, with yourself ; — 
one who has the elements of the same character, is aiming 
at the same great objects, and with whom, a little while 
hence, you are to be associated in walking in the light of 
the Lamb, and singing the hallelujahs of heaven. 



CHAPTER III. 

HINDRANCES TO CHRISTIAN INTERCOURSE. 

In view of the important blessings that are secured by 
a free and faithful intercourse of christians with each 
other, it seems truly surprising that no greater degree of 
it exists; and especially that many professors of reli- 
gion, and those too who have intimate communion on al- 
most every other subject, are utter strangers to each other 
in respect to the great concern of christian experience. It 
becomes therefore a matter of deep interest to investigate 
the causes of this evil ; for that it is an evil, and one of 
serious magnitude, must be apparent on the slightest re- 
flection. More than almost any thing else, no doubt, it 
interferes with the christian's growth in grace, diminishes 
the general influence of his example, and prevents him 
from most effectually holding forth the word of life. 

1 . The first thing which I shall notice as an impedi- 
ment to christian intercourse, is a slavish adherence to the 
formalities of society. Not that I would have this inter- 
course conducted on any other principles than those of 
genuine politeness ; but I would have much of the stateH- 
ness and parade which is too often witnessed in the high- 
er circles, done away ; and I would have the code of eti- 
quette, instead of being a system of mere frigid formali- 
ties, constructed with reference to the exercise of the 
understanding and the culture of the heart. In short I 



24 

would have the general intercourse of society, especially 
in the higher walks, less embarrassed by ceremony ; and 
would have persons of both sexes impressed with the 
conviction that the legitimate object of calls and visits is 
not answered by the exchange of a few unmeaning inqui- 
ries or compliments, but by the kindly interchange of 
practical thought and benevolent feeling. 

It is easy to see that this feature to which I have re- 
ferred in the organization of society, must stand much in 
the way of a suitable intercourse among the followers of 
Christ ; for so powerful is the influence of public opinion 
that, even where it is in acknowledged error, it is exceed- 
ingly difficult to move in the face of it. Professors of 
religion are often insensibly bound by its influence ; and 
forego the most favorable opportunities of serious and use- 
ful conversation, and of growth in knowledge and piety, 
because they have not courage to resist the current of 
worldly usages. This is true, to a great extent, even in 
respect to those who move in the same circles ; and it ap- 
plies with still greater force to the intercourse between 
christians in the higher, and those in the humbler walks 
of life ; for while the former, by their stately and artifi- 
cial habits, rather repel than invite a religious acquaintance 
with those below them, the latter, through fear of break- 
ing over rules which they have never learned, and thus 
exposing themselves to unpleasant remark, are effectu- 
ally deterred from any attempt or desire to mingle, even 
as christians, with those in more elevated circumstan- 
ces. 

I am far from wishing, as I shall show more at large 
in a subsequent chapter, to annihilate all distinctions in 
society ; for many of them I verily believe to have been 



25 

ordained by providence for wise and useful ends ; but 
while I would have the distinctions remain, I would have 
much of the artificial parade which attends them aboHsh- 
ed. I would have far greater freedom than now prevails 
in the introduction of serious discourse ; and I would have 
the tie of christian brotherhood recognised, even though 
it should bind together the loftiest and the humblest indi- 
viduals in the community. Let such a change as this 
take place, and the intercourse of christians would be in 
every respect more free and delightful, while every thing 
that is valuable in the forms and usages of cultivated so- 
ciety, might be retained. 

Let me say a word in this connexion on the nature and 
foundation of true politeness. There is much even among 
christians that passes for this, which does not deserve the 
name ; and which, while it is utterly unworthy of the 
christian character, constitutes a serious obstacle to reli- 
gious intercourse. But genuine politeness, while it is 
founded in christian principle, is a help, rather than a hin- 
drance, to the free interchange of pious sentiment and 
feeling. It originates in a spirit of benevolence ; — a dispo- 
sition to promote the happiness of our fellow creatures ; 
and wherever this spirit is acted out in social intercourse, 
there is the leading element of true politeness ; where it 
exists in connexion with a cultivated taste, there is the 
perfection of the quality. How obvious is it that many 
of the prevailing usages of society, instead of being dicta- 
ted by a spirit of benevolence, are the eflfect of mere pride 
or selfishness ; and instead of contributing to the promo- 
tion of true happiness, serve to freeze up the affections 
and foster a habit of insincerity ! That it is the duty of 
christians to discourage this spurious politeness, admits 

3 



26 

not of question ; but the more they cultivate that polite- 
ness which is based on christian principle, the more they 
cherish the benevolent spirit of the gospel in all their in- 
tercourse, and show that their whole conduct is controlled 
by the united influence of correct taste and christian feel- 
ing ; the more acceptably will they move in every circle 
of society, the more will they accomplish for the best in- 
terests of those with whom they mingle. 

2. Another serious impediment to christian intercourse 
is found in the use of a cant phraseology. There is a set 
of phrases which have come extensively into use within 
a few years, in connexion with experimental religion, and 
especially with revivals of religion, which are exceeding- 
ly revolting to a correct and cultivated taste : and what 
increases the magnitude of the evil is, that the use of this 
offensive phraseology seems to be regarded by many as 
indicating a higher tone of spiritual feeling, and a greater 
degree of abstraction from the world, than the plain lan- 
guage of the bible and common sense. Indeed, if I do 
not greatly mistake, it is sometimes practically erected in- 
to a standard of christian character ; and the vigor and 
strength of a man's piety are often estimated by the degree 
of cant which pertains to his conversation. It were easy 
to show that, in many instances at least, there lurks un- 
der this phraseology, a spirit of self-righteousness and 
of self-deception ; and that serious and lasting evil results 
to the individual who uses it ; but the point which I would 
here urge is, that it is eminently adapted to check the 
spirit, and prevent the benefits, of religious intercourse. 
I remember to have heard a gentleman, distinguished alike 
by piety and intelligence, remark, that he had often been 
distressed that he could not enjoy the society of a certain 



27 

class of christians more ; but that they so completely de- 
luged him with cant, that he longed when he was in their 
company, to breathe a different atmosphere ; and that he 
had often been led to inquire whether this revolting sen- 
sation which he found himself unable to control, did not 
indicate a low state of his own religious affections. I do 
not mean to intimate that the most cultivated christian 
may not hold the most delightful and profitable commu- 
nion with a very uncultivated one : it is not the lack of 
intellectual culture to which I refer, but the introduction 
of technical phrases into the vocabulary of christian ex- 
perience, which have the sanction neither of reason nor 
scripture, and which are adapted to lower the dignity of 
reUgion, and awaken low and grovelling associations.— 
And it is due to truth to say that, though this evil exists 
chiefly among the less enlightened classes, yet it is by no 
means confined to them : there are persons of no small 
degree of cultivation, who, from having long been con- 
versant with this kind of phraseology in others, have ac- 
tually come to adopt it, to a considerable extent, them- 
selves ; and while their general conversation is exceed- 
ingly edifying, it is occasionally marred by some cant ex- 
pression which has so often been repeated in their hear- 
ing that they have become insensible to its offensive cha- 
racter. 

Now this is a matter in respect to which christians of 
all classes should be on their guard. There is certainly no 
ground for any controversy between piety and good taste ; 
and no one ever renders any service to the former by at- 
tempting to divorce it from the latter. Let the language 
of the bible and of common sense be adopted to give ex- 
pression to the religious feehngs of christians in their in- 



28 

tercourse with each other, and there will be no danger 
either of misapprehension or of disgust. But let the ob- 
jectionable phraseology to which I have referred be em- 
ployed, and while the idea communicated will often be 
vague and liable to misconception, a cultivated mind will 
not only receive no pleasant impression, but will be like- 
ly to turn away with positive dislike. It surely then be- 
comes a duty to avoid the use of this kind of language ; 
for even admitting that it were indifferent in itself, yet if 
its tendency is to mar the enjoyment of a large class of 
christians, and to interfere with religious intercourse, it 
becomes an evil and ought studiously to be avoided. 

3. Another hindrance to christian intercourse closely 
allied to the preceding is a disposition, on the part of many 
christians^ always to invest the subject of religion with 
gloom. They are not only serious, as they should be, not 
only careful to guard against all unhallowed levity, and 
to manifest the utmost reverence whenever they speak of 
religion, but in addition to this, they display a kind of arti- 
ficial sanctity, which seems to carry with it the aspect of 
cheerless despondency, or of cutting rebuke. In their 
conversation, they are disposed to dwell chiefly on the 
most gloomy and appalling subjects connected with reli- 
gion ; and are much more inclined to notice and even mag- 
nify indications of evil, than to admit that there are any 
signs of good. They are exceedingly prone to talk of 
the coldness of their fellow christians ; and sometimes 
will make a brother an offender for a word ; and if, in 
some forgetful moment, a smile happens to play upon their 
countenances, they will afflict themselves for it, by ad- 
mitting into their visage an additional hue of gloom. 
Sometimes this is to be traced to a derangement of the 



29 

bodily system ; sometimes to a morbid state of the mind in- 
duced by some cause which it is not easy to detect ; some- 
times to a constitutionally gloomy temperament ; while, 
in other cases, it results from mistaken views of religious 
truth or experience ; and in others still, perhaps from a 
combination of several, or all, of these causes. But let 
the origin of it be whatever it may, its effect on christian in- 
tercourse is most undesirable. As there is nothing in re- 
ligion that makes war upon taste, so there is nothing in 
it to chill the social affections, or prevent the natural ope- 
ration of any of the faculties which God has given us, or 
cloud the countenance with an aspect of sullen melan- 
choly. And though some individuals may mistake this 
for the operation of genuine piety, yet the mass of chris- 
tians, no matter how devoted they may be, will cherish 
a different spirit, and will exhibit a different conduct ; and 
they will regard that to which I have just referred as an 
imnatural and unlovely exhibition of christian character, 
towards which they are incapable of being attracted. And 
the consequence will be that they will have little rehsh 
for the society of those in whom they witness it. Their 
cheerful views of religion, and the peace and joy which 
constitute leading elements in their own experience, will 
lead them to seek their associates among those who are 
not thus habitually under the influence of an austere or 
gloomy spirit. 

I do not mean to intimate that the disposition to which 
I have here referred is a prevailing characteristic of chris- 
tians in our day ; on the contrary, no doubt a much more 
common and alarming evil is found in the spirit of in- 
consideration and levity ; still the evil of which I have 
been speaking, has an existence, and in some circles. 

3* 



30 

it exists greatly to the prejudice of the cause of religious 
intercourse. I would indeed earnestly exhort every pro- 
fessed christian, especially every one of an animated tem- 
perament, to take heed that the natural buoyancy of his 
spirits is always suitably chastened by the influence of 
devotional feeling ; but I would have every one guard 
against the opposite error, as he would avoid dressing 
up religion in such an attire that she would not be re- 
cognised even by her own friends. 

4. The prevalence of a sectarian spirit is another bar 
to christian intercourse. Far be it from me to wish to 
interfere with the private arrangements, or to annihilate 
the distinctive existence, of any of those denominations 
which hold the fundamental truths of the gospel : I would 
say in the present state of the church, let them all exist ; 
and let each sit under its own vine and fig tree, enjoying 
its own freedom, and helping forward the cause of Christ 
in its own way. Still, where the same great principles 
are held by different sects, notwithstanding the varieties 
of opinion on, minor points, there is a foundation for chris- 
tian intercourse and co-operation. But who needs be 
told that there is a spirit of jealousy abroad in the church, 
which prevents the followers of Christ, to a great extent, 
from mingling with each other, unless they happen to 
have learned exactly the same shibboleth ? Because, for 
instance, one person beheves that there are three orders 
of ministers in the church, and another that there is but 
one, while both agree in respect to the great truths which 
it is the duty of every minister to preach, it too often hap- 
pens that these individuals are thrown as far asunder in 
respect to religious intercourse, as if they held in every 
respect opposite systems of faith. The slightest shades 



31 

of difference are not unfrequently magnified into an occa- 
sion of mutual shiness and suspicion ; and they who 
should recognise each other as brethren of the same fami- 
ly, and should co-operate for the promotion of the same 
great objects, scarcely know each other as the disciples 
of a common Master. 

Let every christian see that he is free from the guilt of 
yielding to this unhallowed spirit. Maintain your own 
denominational peculiarities, if you will, but forget not 
the broad ground that you occupy in common with every 
disciple of Christ. Let the spirit of brotherly love breathe 
through your conduct towards all who hold the Head, 
though there may be some minor points in respect to 
which you may consider them in error. You expect 
hereafter to be joined with them in an eternal commu- 
nion ; and wherefore should you stand aloof from them 
now, as if you desired there should be a perpetual sepa- 
ration ? 

5. The pressure of worldly engagements constitutes an- 
other obstacle to christian intercourse. Let the secular 
employments of men be what they may, and in them- 
selves as praiseworthy as they may, there is always dan- 
ger that they will so engross their time, as to leave little 
for religious intercourse. How common is it for the stu- 
dent to become so absorbed in the pursuit of learning, 
for the merchant or mechanic to be so entirely occupied 
in his counting room or his workshop, for the lawyer to 
be so intent on the interests of his clients, or the states- 
man on the interests of the nation, that each gives him- 
self but little leisure for communing with his fellow chris- 
tians on the subject which, by his own acknowledgment, 
infinitely outweighs every other. And while this excess 



32 

of worldly engagements interferes with christian inter- 
course by occupying the time, it tends to the same result 
as it begets a spirit of worldliness ; for just in proportion 
as this spirit prevails, there will ordinarily be an aversion 
to religious conversation. It is out of the abundance of 
the heart that the mouth speaketh ; and if the heart be 
full of worldly affections, nothing better can be expect- 
ed than that the world, in some form or other, will be 
the all engrossing topic of discourse. 

If then you would not check the spirit of christian in- 
tercourse either in your own heart, or the hearts of your 
fellow christians, beware of the influence of the world. 
You have a right to be industrious in your worldly call- 
ing ; but you have no right to let your industry degene- 
rate into a supreme devotion to the things which perish 
with the using. You have no right to let the cares of 
the world press upon you so far, as to interfere with your 
religious duties, or growth in grace. You have no right 
to let the spirit of the world come into your bosom, and 
awaken an aversion to the duty and the privilege of com- 
muning with your fellow disciples. Whenever you find 
that this unhappy effect is produced, you need no better 
evidence that the world has gained an undue influence 
over you. 

6. An unworthy timidity on the part of many christians 
opposes a formidable barrier to religious intercourse. I 
know not how it is that, with many professors, there is 
more delicacy in speaking to each other on the subject of 
religion, and especially in regard to personal experience, 
than any topic that can be introduced. On every other 
subject indeed there may be the most unrestrained free- 
dom ; when an allusion to this will create a sensation of 



33 

alarm. Hence it often happens that professors of religion 
are deterred from introducing religious conversation with 
their fellow professors, from the fear that they may be 
considered obtrusive ; and that they may not find a chord 
strung in the heart which will vibrate to so spiritual a 
subject as christian experience. And hence too, many a 
christian has remained in ignorance of the spiritual con- 
dition of his nearest friend, when every day has brought 
with it the best opportunities for an unreserved christian 
intercourse. 

Professing christian, this timidity is unworthy of thy 
character 5 as a disciple of the Lord Jesus . It looks as though 
the spirit of a traitor may after all dwell in thy bosom. It 
looks as though thou wert ashamed of the Master by 
whose name thou art called. Whatever the origin of this 
feeling may be, it certainly is not from above ; and it 
ought to be crucified as a barrier both to thy comfort and 
usefulness. 

7. The greatest hindrance to christian intercourse after 
all, is found in a low state of piety. There is here and 
there an individual who habitually cultivates close com- 
munion with God ; and who makes it manifest by his 
whole deportment that his treasure and his heart are in 
heaven ; and that this Ufe with him is a constant course 
of preparation for a better. But with the great mass 
of professed christians, it must be acknowledged that 
the case is different : in many instances there is but lit- 
tle evidence of a spiritual mind, and the heart seems 
to be wedded to the pleasures, or the riches, or the ho- 
nors, of the world, as closely as that of any professed 
worldling; and in many other cases of which, on the 
whole, we are disposed to judge favorably, so far as re- 



34 

spects the existence of a principle of religion, there is yet 
a lamentable deficiency in regard to almost every thing 
that goes to constitute holy living. It is easy to see that 
such a state of things, so far and so long as it continues, 
must oppose an insurmountable obstacle to a free christian 
intercourse ; and such yve find to be the fact. In a season 
of revival, when christians are awake to a sense of obli- 
gation, and their hearts are melted in compassion for sin- 
ners around them, and their graces are all quickened into 
lively exercise, how easy is it for them to unbosom them- 
selves to each other in respect to spiritual concerns, in all 
the fulness of an affectionate confidence ; and how much 
are they disposed to blame themselves for the mutual re- 
serve which they have practised on this subject in other 
days ! But let a season of prevailing coldness ensue, and 
let christians again suffer the spirit of piety to give place 
to the spirit of the world ; and the same backwardness to 
religious intercourse returns, and there is perhaps an un- 
broken silence of weeks or months in respect to the great 
concern, between those who had been accustomed to com- 
mune together with the utmost familiarity. 

If then you would not only keep up a religious inter- 
course, but make it easy and delightful, let me urge you 
to live under the habitual influence of a spirit of piety. 
Accustom yourself much to serious and devout medita- 
tion, and keep your heart filled with pious affections, and 
live near to the throne of the heavenly grace ; and while 
you will never be at loss for a subject on which to con- 
verse with a christian friend, it will not be your fault, if 
the conversation is not both edifying and delightful. 

Such, if I mistake not, are some of the principal ob- 
stacles to christian intercourse. Most of them exert an 



35 

insidious influence ; so that an individual may actually 
suffer serious evil in this respect, and yet, if he do not 
scrutinize closely, may not discover the cause. If, at any 
time, you have less relish for christian intercourse than 
you once had, inquire whether there is not a correspon- 
ding decline in all your religious affections ; and be not 
satisfied until you have discovered the cause of the evil, 
and have applied the appropriate remedy. Remember 
that just so far as you oppose an obstacle to religious 
intercourse as it respects others, you incur the blame 
of retarding their progress in piety ; and just so far as 
you yield to such an obstacle thrown in your own way, 
you run the hazard of contracting the guilt of a back- 
slider. Avoid, especially, the influence of bad example ; 
and whatever may be the reluctance of professing chris- 
tians around you to commingle in religious conversation, 
recollect that you are not absolved from your obligation 
to fidelity ; and under such circumstances your duty mani- 
festly is, to expostulate with them in respect to their de- 
linquencies, and to labor in the way of affectionate admo- 
nition and rebuke to bring them to a better mind. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MODE OF CONDUCTING CHRISTIAN INTERCOURSE. 

It is obvious, on a moment's reflection, that christians 
may have much to do with each other, in the way of re- 
ligious intercourse, and yet, from having wrong views in 
respect to it, or from being under the influence of impro- 
per feehngs, the great end which should always be kept 
in view, may be but very imperfectly answered. Hence 
it becomes a matter of importance that every christian 
should have in his mind an outUne of the course to be 
pursued, in order that the legitimate advantages of min- 
gling with his fellow christians may be secured to him. 

But as the intercourse of christians must necessarily 
be modified by the various relations they sustain to each 
other, and by the difierent circumstances in which they 
are placed, it is obvious that few general rules can be pre- 
scribed in regard to it. I shall only throw out a few 
brief hints on this topic, and leave each individual to 
apply them, as his own particular exigencies may de- 
mand. 

1 . Christian intercourse should be conducted with/ranA;- 
ness. In nothing should there be the semblance of insin- 
cerity. As all true disciples are members of the same 
family, and have a community of interests, and duties, 
and trials, and prospects, they are bound always to re- 

4 



38 

cognise this relationship, and to behave towards each 
other with the confidence it is fitted to inspire. They are 
indeed to have respect to considerations of christian pru- 
dence ; but they are to take heed that the temporizing 
spirit of worldly policy does not creep in under this name, 
and entirely intercept the hallowed influences of reli- 
gious intercourse. Christians certainly are not bound to 
confide every thing to their fellow christians indiscrimi- 
nately ; but if they consult either duty or interest, they 
will open their hearts to each other on all proper occa- 
sions, according to the circumstances in which they are 
brought together. If they are communing in relation to 
their particular trials or conflicts, the temptations which 
they have to encounter from without, or the corruptions 
that rise upon them from within, let them tell the story 
of their experience without hesitation and without re- 
serve. Or if an individual has had rich experience of 
the grace and faithfulness of God in a season of affliction, 
or if the light of the divine countenance has been resto- 
red to him after a season of desertion, or if strength from 
on high has been communicated to him for the discharge 
of arduous duties, let him not hesitate, in the intimate 
communion of christian friendship, to tell what God has 
done for his soul. And then again, suppose the christian 
to be in communion with one who has become remiss in 
duty, or has brought a reproach upon his christian profes- 
sion by a sinful conformity to the world, or even one who 
is only showing the first symptoms of spiritual decline, 
still he is bound, however painful may be the office, to 
deal honestly, and speak out his sober impressions in re- 
spect to the evil contemplated. Nothing short of this 
comes up to the spirit of his covenant engagements ; no- 



39 

thing short of this is Hkely to bring in its train the bless- 
ing of God. 

I would say then to every christian, in all your inter- 
course with your fellow christians, deal honestly. Ho- 
nesty does not require that you should treat every profes- 
sor of religion with the same degree of confidence ; for, 
of course, you are to have respect to peculiarities of 
character ; but it does require you not to distort or dis- 
semble your real sentiments to any, and not to keep 
back any thing which a regard to your own conscience, 
or the spiritual interests of those with whom you asso- 
ciate, may demand that you should disclose. Such a 
course will ensure to you the greatest amount both of use- 
fulness and comfort ; it will be at once a pledge of your 
own growth in grace, and a most important means of do- 
ing good to others. 

2. Christian intercourse should be conducted in the 
spirit oi fraternal Mndness. As one important design of 
it is to cherish brotherly love, and render christians more 
watchful for the promotion of each others' happiness, so 
every thing connected with it should breathe the spirit of 
affectionate regard. There ought especially to be a mu- 
tual forbearance evinced towards each others infirmities, 
a mutual condescension in respect to unimportant differ- 
ences of opinion, a mutual readiness to make sacrifices, 
if need be, for each others' spiritual welfare. But the 
occasion on which, more than almost any other, the ut- 
most kindness is demanded, is that of giving or receiving 
a fraternal admonition. If you see your fellow christian 
deeply in fault, you cannot, for a moment, question that 
it is the duty of some one to admonish him ; and not im- 
probably, if you take counsel of your conscience in view 



40 

of the circumstances of the case, you will find that this 
duty devolves upon yourself. But I hardly need say that 
it is an office of great delicacy ; and let it be performed as 
unexceptionably as it may, it probably will and ought to 
give pain ; but the good effect of it will depend very much 
on its being discharged in the exercise of kindness. You 
are to let your whole manner breathe a spirit of entire dis- 
interestedness ; and to avoid every thing that has the sem- 
blance of censoriousness or uncharitable judging ; and to 
put the best construction on the foibles of the individual 
that you can ; and while you deal faithfully with his con- 
science, you are to endeavor to melt him into penitence as 
well by the tenderness of your manner as the impressive 
character of the considerations you urge upon him. But 
suppose, on the other hand, that you are the individual 
to receive the admonition — suppose you have become 
cold, and worldly, and neglectful of your religious duties, 
and some christian brother comes to you to discharge the 
unwelcome office of a reprover — ^here again, you are sa- 
credly bound to listen with respect and kindness, and to 
show him that you appreciate the motives which have 
brought him to you, and that you acknowledge the rea- 
sonableness of the errand on which he has come. And 
even if you are satisfied that he has misapprehended your 
feelings or conduct, and that your christian character has 
undeservedly fallen under suspicion, still you are to do 
justice to his impressions and motives ; and instead of re- 
pelling him by any expression of disgust or disapproba- 
tion, you are to encourage him by the benignity of your 
spirit to deal with you in all fidelity, if there should 
subsequently be occasion. Who does not know that seri- 
ous altercations often arise between professed christians. 



41 

and sometimes extend their distracting influence over 
a whole church, which are occasioned simply by the 
lack of a spirit of kindness in administering or receiv- 
ing a slight admonition? Let every professed disciple 
remember his responsibility in this matter; and as he 
values the comfort of his fellow christians, and the peace 
of the church, let him never even seem to yield to a spi- 
rit of unkindness. 

3. Christian intercourse should be conducted with dig- 
nity. I have already borne testimony against the intro- 
duction of worldly formalities into the intercourse of the 
professed followers of Christ ; but I would still have them, 
in all their mingling together, maintain the proper dignity 
of the christian character. Even if their intercourse be 
of the most private kind, and marked by the utmost con- 
fidence and freedom, still it should be governed by the 
principles of christian decorum ; and nothing should oc- 
cur which is unworthy of the noble relations which the 
christian sustains, and of the elevated views by which he 
professes to be controlled. And if this remark applies 
even to the most private interchange of sentiment and 
feeling among christians, with much greater force does it 
apply to those occasions on which they are associated in 
a more public manner ; when the influence of what an 
individual does is felt at once through a large circle. In 
such circiunstances, any departure from christian dignity 
becomes a serious evil ; for while it gives pain, as the 
case may be, to many minds, it may probably fix some re- 
volting association which will serve as an avenue to vain 
thoughts, when the christian would yield himself up to 
the most devout reflection. 



42 

I have known some persons who, in many ways, gave 
evidence of possessing much of the spirit of piety, whose 
religious habits, in some respects, approached so near to 
vulgarity, that it seemed questionable to many whether it 
was a privilege to associate with them. Not to dwell 
here upon the evil which I have already noticed — the 
abundant use of cant phraseology, there is a habit com- 
mon to many, of illustrating religious topics by grovelling 
comparisons and almost vulgar anecdotes, which is utter- 
ly inconsistent with the dignity which should pertain to 
every thing connected with religion. I would exhort 
every christian, as he values his usefulness, to take heed 
that he avoid this error. Those, especially, who are 
constitutionally inclined to ludicrous associations, and 
who, previous to their conversion, have been much in the 
habit of trifling discourse, have great reason to be on their 
guard, lest the strength of natural inclination, or the force 
of established habit, should, before they are aware of it, 
lead them to make religion itself appear unlovely by ex- 
hibiting it in an unnatural and unworthy association. 

4. Christian intercourse should be conducted in the 
spirit and exercise of devotion. A devotional frame 
ought indeed to be habitual with the christian ; and 
just in proportion as he loses it, he loses the life, the 
evidences, and the comforts of piety. If he is in a great 
degree destitute of it, there is httle probability that he 
will desire to commune with his fellow christians ; or if 
he attemps it, it will be a frigid and formal matter from 
which no good will be likely to result. But let him be 
under the hallowed influence of a truly devotional spi- 
rit, and he will dehght to associate with those of kin- 
dred feelings : let such a spirit breathe through a circle, 



43 

and it will hallow and elevate all their intercourse, and ren- 
der them helpers of each others' joy. 

And while christians, in mingling with each other, are 
to have their hearts richly imbued with devotional feeling, 
they are also to unite in devotional exercises. On this 
point there is, if I mistake not, a sad delinquency in re- 
spect to the great mass of professors : even though they 
may converse together freely on the general interests of 
religion, and on subjects connected with christian experi- 
ence, yet it is comparatively a rare thing that they unitedly 
supphcate the blessing of God to attend the conversation 
in which they are engaged ; and hence, not improbably, 
their intercourse is alike barren of edification and com- 
fort. In opposition to this, it were desirable, where on- 
ly two or three of the followers of Christ meet togeth- 
er for christian communion, that there should be at 
least one prayer offered with reference either to their own 
general interests as christians, to the cause of Christ in 
the world around them, or to the specific object (if there 
be one) which may have brought them together. Or if 
they have assembled in larger numbers, whether for reli- 
gious conversation of a more general or more particular 
kind, whether with immediate reference to their own spi- 
ritual improvement, or the advancement of Christ's cause 
in the world ; let them not separate, till they have com- 
mended themselves, and the object which has convened 
them, to the smiles and blessing of God. And this, more 
than almost any thing else, renders the hours of chris- 
tian intercourse delightful in the retrospect : if we can feel 
that God has been acknowledged, and his favor implored, 
we may hope with good reason that our communion has 
not been in vain. 



44 

While then, Christian, you highly appreciate the privi- 
lege of associating with your fellow christians, as you 
have opportunity, see to it that the benefits of your in- 
tercourse are not lost by its being conducted in an impro- 
per manner. Keep in view the outline which has here 
been presented, or form for yourself some better one, to 
aid you in respect to this part of your conduct. And the 
result will certainly be that your fidelity will be crowned 
with rich blessings: blessings to your own soul; bles- 
sings to those with whom you associate* 



CHAPTER V. 

OCCASIONS OF CHRISTIAN INTERCOURSE. 

The general condition of the christian's life, and the 
relations he sustains to the church and the world, may be 
considered as always furnishing occasion for a free and 
affectionate intercourse among the professors of Christiani- 
ty. But the particular occasions for it will, of course, 
grow out of the circumstances or relations of the church 
as a body, or of some community of christians, or out 
of the peculiar condition of individual members. I can- 
not here do any thing more than refer to some of the 
more general occasions, on which a free interchange of 
sentiment among christians is peculiarly desirable. — 
I shall consider them as of a more private, or a more 
public nature ; as they respect individuals, or communi- 
ties. 

Of the more private occasions for religious inter- 
course, I may mention, 

1. The case of a christian in a state of spiritual apa- 
thy' It is a melancholy fact that there are few christians, 
who do not, at some period or other, fall into this state ; 
while, with many who bear the christian name, it would 
seem to be the prevailing habit of their lives . This state of 
things imposes upon every professor the duty of commu- 
ning with his fellow professors, either with a view to 



46 

rebuke their spiritual sluggishness, or to get rid of his 
own. 

Suppose you are yourself a wanderer from God, and 
are conscious that you have obscured your evidences, and 
forfeited your comforts, by a course of backsliding — I 
know that, in such a case, you will, in all probabiUty, 
be tempted to stand aloof from your christian friends, 
through fear of the rebuke which you know you deserve ; 
but most clearly your duty and interest both require that 
you should throw yourself in their way, and even court 
the fraternal admonition. You are in a condition in 
which you will be likely to wander farther and farther 
until you are reclaimed ; and so long as you turn your 
back on God's people, you betray a disposition which 
strongly indicates that you will never be reclaimed. If 
a christian brother approaches you, therefore, with a view 
to arouse your slumbering conscience, remember that he 
comes to do you good ; and endeavor to profit to the ut- 
most by his monitory counsels. And if no christian bro- 
ther comes to you, let a sense of your condition, and 
of your needs, carry you to some pious friend, who may 
advise you with christian fidelity, and commend you to 
the reclaiming grace of God. 

Or, suppose, in the circle in which you move, you dis- 
cover in some professing christian sad indications of spi- 
ritual declension ; and when you count the cost of his 
unedifying conversation to the cause of Christ, your heart 
sinks within you — ^here again is an occasion for chris- 
tian intercourse which you must not overlook. In all 
probability, if you go to him with the right spirit, and 
do not prematurely relax your efforts for his recovery, 
you may be the instrument of reclaiming him from his 



47 

wanderings. Listen not to the evil suggestion that it is 
an unpleasant duty, and belongs to many others as truly 
as to yourself; but in the strength of divine grace, re- 
solve that you will go and open your heart to him with 
the confidence of a brother ; and it is most likely that 
you will see him melted down irnder your faithfulness, 
and ultimately recovered from his backsliding. I am 
aware that these are some of the most painful occasions 
of religious intercourse that ever occur ; and hence, per- 
haps, they are more frequently neglected than any other ; 
but let any professor of religion take counsel of his con- 
science, or supplicate divine guidance in reference to this 
matter, or even give himself up to the dictates of kind- 
ness and compassion, and he will find it difficult to pass 
by a wandering brother, without faithfully discharging 
this duty. 

2. The case of the desponding christian presents an- 
other occasion for religious intercourse. In his adorable 
sovereignty, God is sometimes pleased to leave his chil- 
dren to mourn in darkness, without any comfortable evi- 
dence of his favor. The immediate causes of this de- 
sertion are various ; but in many cases at least, no doubt 
it is to be traced to some signal neglect of duty. In some 
instances this withdrawment of the light of the divine 
countenance is partial ; in others it is entire, insomuch 
that the soul sits and mourns amid the chilling shades of 
despair. And this is a calamity which, wherever it ex- 
ists, calls loudly for christian sympathy and counsel. — 
Have you a christian friend in this condition ; one who, 
in other days, has participated with you in the hopes and 
joys of religion, but has now seen all his joys and hopes 
withered, and is writing bitter things against himself, when 



48 

you fully believe that his name is in the book of life ? 
Commune with that friend with the freedom which bro- 
therly love inspires ; and hold up to his view the precious 
promises of God to his people ; and endeavor to bring 
him again to the living fountain of comfort. Or if you 
are yourself sinking under a similar burden, and beginning 
to doubt whether religion has ever exerted its influence 
upon your heart, here again, reveal your apprehensions 
and trials to some judicious friend, who, by his counsels 
and instructions, may contribute to lead you back into 
the light of the divine favor. A christian who begins to 
despond, is exceedingly liable to misapprehend divine 
truth in its application to himself ; and just in proportion 
as his vision of spiritual objects becomes disordered, they 
will appear clothed with a hue which does not belong to 
them. In an early stage of this diseased state of the 
mind, a single suggestion judiciously made, may, by the 
blessing of God, give the thoughts a different direction, 
and destroy the predisposition to a melancholy habit; 
whereas, without any such seasonable interposition, the 
cloud which, at first, hangs lightly upon his spirits, may 
grow thicker and darker, until he is buried in the very 
depths of spiritual gloom. 

3. Another occasion for religious intercourse is present- 
ed by the case of the tempted christian, I am aware in- 
deed that the desponding christian is often subject to great 
temptations ; for the adversary, who delights to afflict 
God's people, is almost sure to avail himself of such an 
opportunity for casting his fiery darts into the soul : but 
I refer here rather to the temptations which overtake the 
christian in the ordinary concerns of life, and which grow 
out of the peculiar circumstances in which Providence 



49 

places him. He may be tempted to indulge a spirit of 
worldliness, or a spirit of levity ; to forget the obligations 
of justice or charity ; to form plans for his own temporal 
aggrandizement at the expense of his spiritual interests — 
and he may, or may not, be sensible that he is thus tempt- 
ed ; but if you discover it, you are bound to admonish 
him of his danger, and to counsel him to keep a double 
guard at the particular point where he is most likely to 
yield ; and to do your utmost to arm him for a successful 
conflict. Or if you are the tempted christian, and a bro- 
ther comes to you with a friendly admonition upon his 
lips, do not fail to welcome him on his errand of love ; 
and open your ear to his kindly suggestions ; and if the 
thought occurs to you that he has mistaken your case, and 
you are in no danger, call to mind the inspired declara- 
tion — ^' Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest 
he fall." To say nothing here of the great adversary, 
the world itself is a mere ''show box of temptation;" 
and as christians would avoid falling under its power, it 
becomes them mutually to aid each other in resisting its 
influence. 

4. The case of the christian struggling with worldly 
calamity^ presents yet another occasion for religious inter- 
course. The sorrows of life — oh, who can hope to es- 
cape them ? The christian surely cannot ; for they meet 
him every where, and sometimes cluster upon his heart 
with a most exhausting pressure. And then how much 
he needs the kindly influence of christian sympathy, and 
the aid of christian counsel, that he may bear his afflic- 
tions with fortitude, and improve them to his sanctifiea- 
tion ! You have some friend or acquaintance who lies 
languishing on a sick bed ; or perhaps hourly expecting 

5 



50 

the death of some beloved relative ; or it may be just re- 
turned from the grave in which have been buried his best 
earthly hopes — Hasten to that sick chamber, or to that 
bed of death, or to that scene of affliction, both as a com- 
forter and counsellor ; and if you are faithful, you may 
expect that that bleeding heart will revive, and rejoice, 
and bless God, and exercise stronger confidence in his 
government, and more entire submission to his will, be- 
cause you have gone thither on that benevolent errand. 
And when you are yourself in turn called to smart under 
the rod of God, how highly will you esteem the privilege 
of being met in the midst of your sorrows by the kind 
hand of christian friendship, and led away into the green 
pastures and by the still waters ! And if you are able to 
receive the visitation with joy, as having contributed to 
sunder some chords by which you were improperly bound 
to the world, and thus to advance your preparation for 
heaven, no doubt one reason will be that you had chris- 
tian friends around you, who contributed by their pious 
and seasonable conversation to secure the legitimate in- 
fluence of your trials upon your heart and life. 

But there are occasions for religious intercourse of a 
more public nature : such for instance, 

1 . As the approach of the commemoration of the death 
of Christ in the supper. This ordinance is, tc a great ex- 
tent, social in its nature ; for it is the design of it, as well 
to unite the followers of Christ more closely, as to bring 
them all nearer to their common Lord. And as the cele- 
bration of the ordinance is a social service, so, in some 
measure at least, should be the preparation for it. Chris- 
tians, in the anticipation of this privilege, should meet to 
converse freely on topics immediately connected with per- 



61 

sonal experience ; to aid each other in the work of self- 
examination ; to get their hearts more deeply imbued with 
the love of Christ ; to endeavor to awaken in each other a 
spirit of hearty mourning for all their delinquencies ; and 
to gain, by familiar conference and united prayer, a more 
vivid impression of the nature and design of the solemni- 
ty which they are approaching, as well as of the qualifi- 
cations for an acceptable attendance upon it. No doubt it 
is for the want of more distinct preparation for this or- 
dinance, that it so often proves barren of light, and 
strength, and comfort ; and if it were to occupy more of 
the christian's thoughts in anticipation, and especially if 
he were to have more intercourse with his fellow chris- 
tians in reference to it, there is every reason to believe 
that each successive celebration would sensibly contri- 
bute to purify and elevate his graces, and would consti- 
tute an era in his religious improvement. 

2. A general state of religious indifference in a churchy 
and of consequent lethargy in the surrounding vjorld, fur- 
nishes another pressing occasion for christian intercourse. 
That such a state of things is lamentable in the extreme, 
and that something ought to be done, to produce a change 
for the better, surely no disciple of Christ can hesitate to 
acknowledge. Is it not obvious then, that christians 
are, first of all, to endeavor to awake each other out 
of sleep ? And how shall this be done but by mutual 
admonition and expostulation, and united prayer? Here 
is manifestly a call for christian intercourse, as urgent as 
the salvation of the soul is important ; and he who de- 
clines to listen to it, and goes on his way without suffer- 
ing himself to be disturbed by the threatening ruin of the 
multitude around him, has great reason to fear, whatever 



52 

his professions may be, lest his name should be found at 
last on the list of the impenitent and reprobate. Be it 
that you belong to a church, the great mass of whose 
members seem to be given up, in a melancholy degree, to 
spiritual insensibility — what is the duty which this state 
of things devolves upon you ? Most certainly, not only 
to awake to greater activity yourself, but to do your ut- 
most to rouse your fellow professors, and enlist them in 
a new and vigorous course of effort for the salvation of 
immortal souls. It is a great point gained, if christians, 
in such circumstances, can be brought together for con- 
versation and prayer ; for though there may be only a few 
hearts, or as the case may be, but a single heart, that is 
deeply impressed with the momentous interests to be se- 
cured, yet this spirit of anxiety may extend through the 
influence of sympathy from one heart to another, till all 
are beating under a common impulse, and breathing forth 
a common prayer for the revival of God's work. Let 
no christian be discouraged in such a case, even if he 
should find himself absolutely alone ; let him mingle with 
christians around him with the right spirit, and he has 
good reason to hope that these humble efforts, made in 
the strength of almighty grace, will draw after them a 
rich blessing. 

3. A revival of religion presents another occasion for 
christian intercourse which should be most diligently 
improved. It is true that, in every revival, the great 
Agent is God ; and unless he is pleased to work by his 
sovereign and new creating power, nothing will be ac- 
complished. Nevertheless, it is not to be forgotten that 
he works through the instrumentality of his people ; and 
he has, in an important sense, committed his work to their 



63 

hands. Suppose then that his Spirit is actually begun to 
be poured out, and there are indications on the right hand 
and on the left, that a special work of divine grace has 
commenced ; — here is a demand for frequent and faithful 
intercourse among the disciples of Christ, which must be 
met, if they will not incur the responsibility of prevent- 
ing one of the most merciful of all God's visitations. — 
They have much to do to keep each other mindful of 
their dependance, to quicken each other to a higher sense 
of the value of the soul, and of the danger of its being 
lost, and of their own obligation, especially in view of the 
proffered agency of God, to labor for its salvation. They 
are to mingle their counsels and prayers with reference 
to ascertaining the best means of promoting the work ; 
and are to guard each other against errors, especially such 
as are incident to an excited state of feeling. They are 
to report the success of their private labors — every thing 
which may have come within their knowledge, that is 
fitted either to strengthen their hopes, or awaken their 
apprehensions. In short, they are to act habitually un- 
der the impression that the extent of the revival may, 
and probably will, depend, in no small degree, under God, 
on the character and degree of christian intercourse that 
is maintained ; that, while their fidelity in this respect 
may greatly prolong, their neglect of duty may propor- 
tionally abridge, the period, in which the gracious influ- 
ences of the Spirit will be signally poured out. 

I would have every christian who labors in a revival, 
often recur to the fact that he is but an unworthy instru- 
ment in the hands of Sovereign Omnipotence ; that, while 
it is his province to use the means, it is God's to give 
them the effect : but I would still have him labor, and 



54 

urge his fellow christians to labor, as vigorously, as if the 
great end were to be accomplished by their own indepen- 
dent efforts. Christian intercourse under such circum- 
stances, properly conducted, will lead to this result. It 
will at once increase the spirit of prayer and the spirit of 
action ; will make men labor diligently for the salvation 
of souls, and keep them impressed with their own impo- 
tence to accomplish the end, and their un worthiness of 
the blessing by which it is to be accomplished. This is 
the true spirit of a revival ; the only spirit which con- 
veys a pledge of its continuance. 

Other occasions of christian intercourse might be noti- 
ced, particularly those which are connected with the great 
benevolent objects of the day ; but it is not needful to 
dwell upon them in this connexion. In view of these 
various occasions, some or other of which are constantly 
occurring, let every professor inquire concerning the mea- 
sure of his own fidehty. And if the inquiry should re- 
sult in a feeling of shame and guilt, let him be humble 
for the past, and faithful in the future. 



CHAPTER VI. 

OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHRISTIAN INTERCOURSE. 

There are few professed christians , who will not rea- 
dily acknowledge that it is at once the duty and the privi- 
lege of the disciples of Christ to maintain a free and fre- 
quent intercourse with each other, in respect to the great 
objects and interests of religion. But in a multitude of 
instances, this acknowledgment has scarcely fallen from 
the lips, before there is an apology offered for personal 
delinquency, on the ground that there is a lack of oppor- 
tunity for such intercourse. The distracting influence of 
worldly care, and perhaps the necessity of providing for 
a family, are urged as reasons why this acknowledged 
duty cannot be performed ; and thus the things that are 
seen and are temporal, are virtually allowed the prece- 
dence above the things that are unseen and eternal. 

Most christians, I have no doubt, will find, upon reflec- 
tion, that they have practically yielded, more or less, to 
the influence of this error 5 that they have apologized to 
their consciences for the neglect of religious intercourse, 
on the ground that it must subject them to great incon- 
venience, and, in many instances, has seemed well nigh 
impracticable. To all professors of reHgion, and espe- 
cially to that large class to which I have just referred, 
I would suggest the following considerations. 



56 

1. Endeavor to form a high practical estimate of the 
obligation and the benefits of christian intercourse- It is 
manifest that the degree of interest which men feel in any 
particular object, will determine the amount of effort 
which they will employ for the attainment of it. If the 
object appears to them of but little moment, and their ob- 
ligation to labor for it seems of a doubtful character, their 
exertions in respect to it will probably be feeble and inef- 
ficient, unless indeed they are contented to let it entirely 
alone. On the other hand, let them feel that the object 
proposed is one of commanding importance, and that they 
are bound by the strongest considerations of duty and in- 
terest to put forth their most vigorous efforts for its ac- 
complishment, and the effect will be that they will be vi- 
gilant for opportunities to help it forward, and will render 
many things subservient to it, which, under other circum- 
stances, might have entirely escaped observation. Ob- 
serve the man whose ruling passion is the love of honor, 
or the love of wealth, or the love of pleasure, and in each 
case you will perceive how watchful he is for opportuni- 
ties to advance the particular object to which he is devo- 
ted, and how successful he is in finding them ; thus illus- 
trating the inspired declaration that ** the children of this 
world are wiser in their generation than the children of 
light." 

Apply this to the case under consideration. If you 
accustom yourself habitually to realize that the mainte- 
nance of religious intercourse is at once the christian's 
precious privilege and imperious duty, and that you can- 
not neglect it, but at the hazard of bringing leanness into 
your soul, it will keep you constantly watchful for op- 
portunities of communing with your fellow christians ; 



57 

and the result will be that such opportunities will occur 
to you in the experience of every day. But if you do 
not properly appreciate the value of this intercourse, if 
you regard it as a matter to be attended to, or neglected, 
just as worldly convenience may dictate, then indeed the 
consequence will probably be that you will not attend to 
it at all ; that weeks, and months, and years, will roll 
away, and you will scarcely be sensible that any oppor- 
tunity has occurred for communion with your fellow 
christians on the things that belong to your everlasting 
peace. 

I say again, then, form a high estimate of the impor- 
tance of this duty, of the value of this privilege. Re- 
member that it is one of the blessings involved in the pur- 
chase made on Calvary. Remember that the neglect 
of it will prove the certain harbinger of your decline in 
the graces, the comforts, the evidences, of piety. Re- 
member that the disposition to neglect it would render it 
fearfully probable that you had not that spirit which is the 
essential requisite for mingling in the communion of saints 
in light. Dwell much upon it in your meditations ; and 
let it become an object of ardent desire ; and I greatly 
mistake if you do not find the opportunities for christian 
intercourse far more frequent than you had ever imagi- 
ned. 

2. In the general economy of life, make distinct provi- 
sion for christian intercourse. Let it be settled in your 
mind that this is a matter to be attended to as truly as the 
duty of private devotion, or public worship, or making 
provision for the wants of your family. Do not leave it 
at loose ends 5 but so far as you can, let it be regulated 
by system. It were well for a few friends to meet sta- 



58 

tedly for purposes of christian conversation ; and where 
they are prevented from doing this, let them still meet 
frequently by occasional appointment. Such meetings, 
more than ahnost any other, have been found to refresh 
the christian's spirit, and arm him with new resolution 
for the various duties, and trials, and conflicts, of the re- 
ligious life. 

We are never likely to gain any object for which we 
do not distinctly provide in our calculations and arrange- 
ments. A general intention of laboring for it as oppor- 
tunity may occur, and convenience dictate, will be almost 
sure to result in nothing ; and it is precisely on this 
ground, as we have reason to believe, that the great mass 
of men are losing their souls. When we see a man with 
a definite object in his eye, forming distinct plans for the 
attainment of it, and moving forward in the execution of 
those plans, we expect that he will do something to pur- 
pose ; and we look with confidence for a result propor- 
tioned to his efforts. He is in an attitude now to encoun- 
ter obstacles ; and to crucify a spirit of apathy in its ear- 
liest operations ; and to bring to his aid other subordinate 
agencies, as opportunity may permit, or occasion require. 
He avoids on the one hand, the evil of those who work 
without a plan ; and on the other, of those who form a 
plan, and do nothing towards its execution. Precisely 
the same principle you must adopt, and the same course 
you must pursue, if you would find opportunities for 
christian intercourse. You must make provision for such 
opportunities by incorporating them into the whole plan 
of your life ; and you must not merely make provision 
for them, but must faithfully avail yourself of them 
when they occur ; and the more you do this, the more of 



59 

practical system you have in this department of religious 
duty, the more will you value the privilege of this inter- 
course, the more fruitful in permanent blessings will it be 
to you. 

3. TaH advantage of every opportunity for christian 
conversation that occurs in your ordinary intercourse. No 
man can determine in what circumstances he may be 
placed the next day, or even the next hour. In the pro- 
secution of our worldly plans, we may be unexpectedly 
carried from one place to another, may form acquaintan- 
ces which we never anticipated, and meet our christian 
friends, for a longer or shorter period, in circumstances 
the most favorable to religious intercourse. For instance, 
you meet a christian brother but for a few moments in 
the common business of life ; but however short the 
period, you may drop some word that shall serve to 
quicken his good affections ; or he may suggest some 
hint to you that shall be the means of leading you into 
some more extended field of benevolent action. Or else 
you may be thrown into christian society while you are 
on a journey ; and by introducing serious conversation in 
a proper manner, you may secure to yourself the blessing 
of having reclaimed some brother who had begun to wan- 
der ; or of having assisted some one in his conflict with 
temptation ; or of having shed light upon some mind that 
was perplexed in respect to duty ; or of having given a 
sacred impulse to some heart, which shall be communi- 
cated to another and another, until religion is perceptibly 
revived through an extensive community. Wherever 
you are then, watch for opportunities for this casual kind 
of intercourse with your fellow christians. The amount 



60 

of good that you may gain, and that you may accomphsh, 
by this means, is incalculable. 

There are two extremes in relation to this part of your 
duty, against each of which you should be on your guard. 
One is the error of supposing that you are to introduce 
religious conversation on all occasions, even with profes- 
sed christians, without respect to circumstances. Where 
persons of this description only are together, it ought cer- 
tainly to be taken for granted that religious discourse may 
be safely and acceptably introduced ; though even in this 
case, the peculiar character and circumstances of the in- 
dividuals with whom you converse, ought to be taken 
into the account, in determining what particular direction 
the conversation shall receive. But where professors of 
religion happen to be casually thrown into the company 
of worldly and wicked men, though this is by no means 
to be admitted as a sufficient reason in all cases, or even 
in ordinary cases, for their not communing together on 
the most important of all concerns, yet it no doubt does 
sometimes justify them in keeping silence ; and if they 
were to attempt serious conversation, it would be nothing 
better than casting their pearls before swine. I have 
known instances in which professors in a public convey- 
ance, and in a promiscuous company, have urged reli- 
gious conversation manifestly to the injury of the cause 
they have wished to benefit; and their imprudent zeal 
has still carried them forward in a manner the most ear- 
nest and determined, while they were drawing insults 
upon themselves from every side, and what was worse, 
bitter reproaches on their holy religion. 

The other extreme is that of a false and apprehensive 
delicacy ; an excessive fear of wounding even a fellow 



61 

professor by placing him under a kind of necessity to join 
in religious conversation ; and much more of giving of- 
fence to men of the world, if the conversation happens to 
be in their presence. With respect to giving pain to any 
professed christian by introducing a religious topic — I 
would say that, if he is susceptible of pain from such a 
cause, the sooner he feels it the better ; for no more une- 
quivocal evidence can be needed that, if he has ever 
felt the power of religion, it has greatly lost its influence 
over him. The fact that an individual has confessed 
Christ before the world, and thus assumed the badge of 
discipleship, is a sufficient warrant, so far as he is con- 
cerned, for addressing him on the subject of religion in 
any suitable circumstances. And even in respect to giv- 
ing offence to worldly men who may be present, if the 
conversation is properly conducted, there is little ground 
for apprehension. In far the greater number of instances, 
no objection will be offered; and in very many, there 
will be marked attention and approbation. I remember 
to have known two professors of religion in a stage coach 
carry on a protracted conversation simply with a view to 
the benefit of a fellow traveller, whom they did not think 
proper to approach in a more direct way ; and the result 
was, that there was good reason to hope that the truth 
was permanently lodged, not only in his understanding, 
but in his heart. No doubt while professed christians are 
often deterred by considerations of delicacy from convers- 
ing on religious subjects in the presence of worldly men, 
they are exciting the surprise of those very individuals, 
that there is nothing in their conversation to indicate 
either the profession or the spirit of piety. 



62 

The good effects that would result from an adherence 
to this general rule would be manifest in various ways. 
Especially, it would be a means of redeeming time. Who 
needs be told that a large part of the conversation of pro- 
fessing christians, in their casual interviews, is not only 
of a mere worldly character, but is often fitted to dissi- 
pate serious thought, and lower the tone of spiritual feel- 
ing ? And surely this involves a criminal perversion of 
time. Let the habit once be formed of turning these op- 
portunities for intercourse, in some degree, to a religious 
account, and not only is the evil of which I have spoken 
avoided, but great good is secured. And the precious 
moments which God has given us, for useful purposes, 
are redeemed from waste, and consecrated to the ends for 
which he gave them. 

Another happy effect of this would be a habit of noti- 
cing and reflecting upon the dispensations of Providence. 
Let christians, in the occasional intercourse they have from 
day to day, accustom themselves to serious discourse, and 
not a small part of the topics which will present them- 
selves will be drawn from the events which occur around 
them ; and these events being connected with serious re- 
flections, will lead them to recognise God in every thing. 
Such a habit will serve to associate the recollection of his 
agency with a thousand events which the natural athe- 
ism of the heart practically ascribes to chance ; and thus 
it will elevate their views of the providence of God, 
while its more remote influence will be to strengthen 
their confidence and hope in him, who watches the fall 
of a sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads. 

Are you still ready to complain. Christian, of the want 
of opportunities for intercourse with your fellow chris- 



63 

tians ? Be assured, the fault is in yourself. You do not 
realize the value of the privilege, so as to keep yourself 
intent upon securing it ; or you do not provide for such 
opportunities in your general arrangements ; or you do 
not avail yourself of them as they occur in the experi- 
ence of every day. Opportunities enough are offered you 
in the arrangements of divine providence ; and if you 
will not improve them, can you hesitate as to the ques- 
tion, where rests the responsibility ? 



CHAPTER VII. 

CHRISTIAN INTERCOURSE IN THE FAMILY.* 

I have already had occasion to advert to the fact that, 
considering the great ends to be accomplished by christian 
intercourse, it is truly matter of surprise that there should 
be such a lamentable neglect of it. This remark, if I 
mistake not, applies, with peculiar force, to a large pro- 
portion of christian families. It is no uncommon thing 
to find a family, the majority of whose members are pro- 
fessedly the disciples of Christ, and who sit together regu- 
larly at the communion table, who are nevertheless en- 
tirely ignorant of each others' religious feelings, except as 
they are exhibited in the ordinary course of conduct. — 
There are two considerations which evince the unreason- 
ableness of this, while they illustrate the peculiar obliga- 
tion of every family in which there are professors of re- 
ligion to pursue an opposite course. 

The first is, that christians, in the circumstanees here 
supposed, sustain to each other the most endearing rela- 
tions, independently of the tie which binds them together as 
the disciples of a common Master. It seems to have been 
one great design of Providence in instituting families, to 

* See this subject treated in a most interesting manner in ''The Fami- 
ly Monitor," by Rev. J. A, James; whose works are too well known, 
and too highly appreciated, in this country, to need recommendation. 

6* 



66 

increase the amount of human happiness, by giving the 
members of each family a peculiar interest in each other, and 
thus disposing them to co-operate for mutual benefit. How 
obvious is it, for instance, that the ^arewf a/ relation is de- 
signed to be the channel of incalculable blessing ; that it has 
been constituted with all its unutterable tenderness, with a 
view to secure a suitable provision for the education of 
children I Indeed it is a fact every where recognised, 
that members of the same family ought to be peculiarly 
interested in each others' welfare, and have special claims 
upon each others' kindness ; and hence there is scarcely 
any thing from which we revolt more instinctively than 
domestic discord. It is painful to hear of contentions 
in neighborhoods, or in any of the departments of socie- 
ty ; but for parents and children, brothers and sisters, to 
array themselves against each other, is such an affront to 
nature, and indicates such moral hardihood, that a mind 
of common sensibility can scarcely contemplate it without 
shuddering. 

If then, it be universally admitted that members of the 
same family are under peculiar obligations to strive for 
the promotion of each others' happiness, here is a pow- 
erful reason why professors of religion in the same do- 
mestic circle should have much to do with each other in 
the way of christian intercourse ; for while the subject 
to which their attention would thereby be directed, is the 
most important of all subjects, there is no other means 
of mutual benefit which could be employed with equal 
advantage. Do you desire no better reason why you 
should labor for the support and education of that child, 
than that you are his father ? Say whether this is not an 
equally good reason why you should commune with him 



67 

as a professed disciple of Christ, and endeavor, by fre- 
quent counsels and admonitions, to fortify him for the 
conflicts, and encourage him to the duties, of the chris- 
tian life ? You have no difficulty in determining that the 
fact that an individual who needs to be relieved from 
want, or to be advised in difficulty, is your brother, car- 
ries with it a peculiar obligation to you, to open your 
hand in charity, or your lips in counsel — why then is 
not the obligation equally imperative, in view of the same 
fact, to commune with him as a christian brother, when 
you see that he has spiritual exigencies which it may be 
in your power to meet, and thus save him perhaps from 
being the sport of temptation, or from rushing into the 
most serious evils ? 

The other consideration which evinces the peculiar ob- 
ligation of christian intercourse in the family, while it is 
a rebuke to that almost unbroken reserve which too com- 
monly prevails, is, that in no other situation are there so 
many advantages for this intercourse. The individuals 
concerned, from living under the same roof, and seeing 
each other every day, and in almost every variety of 
circumstances, have an opportunity of becoming thorough- 
ly acquainted with each others' characters ; of knowing 
each others' infirmities, and temptations, and dangers, 
better than in any other condition in which they could be 
placed. And as the endearing relation they bear to one 
another would seem to justify a greater measure of free- 
dom in their intercourse than they could otherwise indulge, 
so their constant commingling together must furnish op- 
portunities for religious conversation, of the most favora- 
ble kind. Whether the intercourse be between two indi- 
viduals only, or a larger number ; whether it be of a par- 



68 

ticular or general nature ; — supposing several members of 
the family, and especially the heads of it, to be professed 
christians, there is every advantage for it that could rea- 
sonably be desired. The neglect of it, under such cir- 
cumstances, is, therefore, peculiarly inexcusable. 

Christian intercourse in the family should exist indis- 
criminately among all the members vrho are the professed 
followers of Christ ; though it will of course be modified, 
to some extent, by the relations they bear to each other. 
I will consider this duty briefly as it relates to husbands 
and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, ser- 
vants and other members of the family. 

1 . There should be the most unreserved christian in- 
tercourse between the husband and wife. As the rela- 
tion that exists between them legitimately involves the 
strongest mutual affection, so it ought to involve an un- 
limited mutual confidence in respect to every thing con- 
nected with their spiritual prosperity. Whatever reli- 
gious doubts or anxieties either of them may have, to 
whatever temptations either of them may be subject, 
there should be the most unreserved freedom in mutual- 
ly communicating every feeling, and sharing every sor- 
row. And I hardly need say that they should, both sta- 
tedly and occasionally, mingle their thanksgivings and sup- 
plications at the throne of grace ; endeavoring to call 
down blessings upon each other, to quicken one another 
in the spiritual life, and to cherish in each others' breasts 
every pious and devout affection. And while they should 
keep in view, in their intercourse, their own mutual 
growth in grace, they should constantly have respect to 
the spiritual interests of their families ; devising plans by 
which their children, and those under their care, may be 



69 

likely to be brought under the influence of religion, or 
assisted in the religious life ; and seeking divine grace to 
enable them properly to understand, and faithfully to dis- 
charge, their parental duties. If the heads of a family 
are not suflSciently interested for the moral and religious 
improvement of those "whom Providence has committed 
to their guardianship, to commune together in respect to 
the means of doing them good, there is little to hope from 
any efforts which they will be Hkely to put forth in the 
way of christian education. 

2. Between parents and children also, there should be 
frequent and intimate christian intercourse. Where per- 
sons in the morning of life make a profession of religion, 
there is a degree of responsibility devolved on their chris- 
tian parents, which it is not easy adequately to estimate. 
It depends, under God, more, perhaps, on their influence, 
than any other, whether their children form a consistent 
and elevated christian character, and honor their profession 
by an exemplary and useful life, or whether they relapse 
into habits of inconsideration and folly, and bring a reproach 
upon the cause of Christ by a miserable course of con- 
formity to the world. Let a christian parent, in these 
circumstances, appear to concern himself little about the 
spiritual interests of his children, and never introduce se- 
rious conversation with them, or manifest any desire to 
help them forward in the religious life, and they will not 
unnaturally come to imagine that what he treats with so 
much indifference is really less important than they had 
supposed ; and, as a consequence, will gradually relax 
their watchfulness, and become remiss in every duty that 
involves self-denial. But, on the other hand, let a parent, 
in these circumstances, mingle with his children, in that 



70 

affectionate intimacy which will naturally result from a 
union of parental tenderness and ardent piety ; let him 
keep himself acquainted with the difficulties they have 
to encounter, the temptations to which they are ex- 
posed, and all their progress in the religious life ; let him 
address them freely and frequently in the way of encour- 
agement, or admonition, as their circumstances may re- 
quire, and he has good reason to expect that he will see 
them consistent and active christians, adorning the doc- 
trine of God their Saviour, by a holy life and conversa- 
tion. It is a painful fact in the experience of the church 
that a considerable proportion of persons w^ho make a pro- 
fession of religion in youth, seem, after a little time, to 
lose the comforts and evidences of piety, by becoming 
criminally conformed to the world. Many of these per- 
sons, it is true, are the children of parents, who are them- 
selves either indifferent to religion, or openly irreligious ; 
and of course it were not to be expected that they should 
contribute, in any way, to form the christian character of 
their children ; but where this spirit of backsliding is 
manifested in those whose parents are professedly the 
followers of Christ, no doubt the evil is to be traced, in 
many instances, chiefly to parental neglect. 

But suppose the children of a family to have advanced 
beyond the first stage of the christian life, and to have be- 
come established, in some good measure, in the way of 
truth and holiness ; — though there may not be the same 
urgent demand for parental vigilance and counsel as in the 
case just supposed, yet there is good reason why it should 
still be continued ; and independently of the exigency of 
the case, a free christian intercourse should be kept up, 
with reference to mutual religious improvement. While 



71 

the tenderness and dignity of the parental relation is fitted 
to open a passage to the heart of a child for whatever 
comes from a father's or a mother's lips, in the way of 
christian counsel or instruction, there is that in the filial 
relation which makes the parent's heart thrill with unut- 
terable emotions, when he hears from the lips of his child 
the story of his experience of the preciousness of the 
gospel, and the covenant faithfulness of God. 

3. The same affectionate intercourse should exist be- 
tween brothers and sisters. It often happens that, as they 
have enjoyed substantially the same religious privileges 
both in the family and out of it, so they become impressed 
with the importance of religion, and are hopefully the 
subjects of a spiritual renovation, and enter the visible 
church, at nearly the same time ; so that they must needs 
feel a peculiar interest in each others' spiritual welfare, 
growing out of the fact that they have been so intimately 
associated in the beginning of their christian experience. 
How reasonable that, under such circumstances especially, 
they should cast off all reserve, and become fellow-help- 
ers unto the kingdom of God, by the most confidential re- 
ligious intercourse ; by doing their utmost in the way of 
mutual counsel and exhortation, and if need be, reproof, 
to carry each other forward in the path to heaven ! 

But while they are bound to assist each other, so far as 
they can, in respect to the whole matter of christian ex- 
perience, they are also mutually to aid each others' im- 
provement in religious knowledge. Let them study the 
bible together, interrogating each other in respect to the 
meaning of its contents, and settling every question that 
is raised from an intelligent and thorough examination of 
the passage to which it relates, and by a reference to the 



72 

best authorities within their reach. Such a course pur- 
sued from month to month, and year to year, would not 
only contribute to strengthen the cord which binds them 
together as the disciples of Christ, but would secure to 
them a vast amount of biblical knowledge, and ultimate- 
ly make them '^ mighty in the scriptures." 

4. There should be religious intercourse between pious 
servants and other christian members of the family. Per- 
haps your domestics, while they give evidence of piety 
and make a profession of it, are yet ignorant, and need 
instruction in respect to the great truths and duties of re- 
ligion — whether you are the head of a family, or whe- 
ther you are a son, or a daughter, or only an inmate, here 
is a demand upon you to endeavor to impart a more ex- 
tensive and intimate knowledge of God's word. Or per- 
haps you may discover in them a spirit of excessive world- 
liness, or a disposition to treat lightly their christian obli- 
gations, or even some overt act of folly or sin — let your 
place in the family be what it may, you are bound, in this 
case, affectionately, yet faithfully, to admonish them both 
of their danger and their duty. And even if they are in 
a good degree enlightened and highly exemplary — a case 
which in this country is of no unfrequent occurrence — it 
is still both your duty and your privilege occasionally to 
hold religious intercourse with them, and to endeavor to 
stir them up to higher and still higher attainments in reli- 
gion, or as the case may be, to catch from them a warm- 
er glow of pious feeling than already pervades your own 
bosom. If I do not greatly mistake, there are few chris- 
tian families in which this part of duty is conscientiously 
and faithfully performed. The better performance of it, 
there is reason to believe, would bring not only to the 



73 

members immediately concerned, but to the whole family, 
a rich reward. 

I have already intimated, in the beginning of this chap- 
ter, that the best opportunities for christian intercourse 
are found in the family. Let me mention two or three 
seasons which are peculiarly favorable to this sacred em- 
ployment. 

Saturday evening^ even where it is not kept as part of 
the sabbath, brings with it a delightful opportunity to eve- 
ry christian family to engage in religious intercourse. — 
Suppose the labors of the week to be brought to a close 
with the going down of the sun, and all secular concerns 
to be laid aside, that sacred things may be taken up ; and 
suppose the evening to be passed in religious conversation, 
and reading the scriptures, and devotional exercises ; and 
surely a more hallowed employment for the close of the 
week, or a more appropriate preparation for the sabbath, 
cannot be imagined. If christians are disposed, on that 
evening, to mingle in a larger circle for purposes of devo- 
tion and religious improvement, no objection certainly 
can be urged against it ; but if I could be assured that 
they were spending the evening at home in the manner 
which I have described, even though I might be present 
in a larger circle myself, I would bid them God speed in 
the delightful interchange of religious sentiment, and the 
grateful mingling of devotional feeling, around the domes- 
tic fireside. 

And the Sabbath^ I hardly need say, is pre-eminently 
a season for christian intercourse in the family. A con- 
siderable portion of the day, of course, is to be devoted 
to public religious exercises ; and another portion of it to 
the duties of the closet ; but some part of it should al- 

7 



74 

ways be allowed to religious conversation. Indeed no 
conversation that is not religious, unless it be a matter of 
absolute necessity, ought to be admitted on that day ; none 
can be admitted, but at the expense of disregarding the 
divine authority. Let those occasions which bring the 
family together in the course of the day, instead of be- 
ing perverted, as they too often are, to mere worldly con- 
versation, be improved for purposes of religious edifica- 
tion. Especially, let christian parents be careful to set 
the example in this respect ; and if they do so, not as- 
suming a gloomy air, but conversing with becoming 
cheerfulness and familiarity, they may expect not only 
to see signs of religious improvement in their children 
and domestics, but to witness the exemplary and delight- 
ful sanctification of the sabbath throughout their house- 
hold. 

I may mention, as another season for christian inter- 
course, the hour of family devotion. I have known a few 
instances in which the hour especially of evening prayer in 
a family was made most delightfully subservient not only 
to a spirit of devotion, but to improvement in divine know- 
ledge ; and the case to which I refer, is, I believe, quite 
common in the higher circles of christian society in Great 
Britain. The members of the household, when the time 
for domestic worship arrives, are seated around a table, 
each with a bible ; and while the head of the family 
takes the lead, the rest follow, in reading a portion of 
scripture, and making such inquiries, and suggesting such 
hints, in connexion, as are adapted to awaken interest, to 
elicit instruction, or to cherish devotional feeling ; and af- 
ter a considerable time passed in this manner, the evening 
is concluded by a solemn approach to the throne of grace J 



75 

the prayer deriving its complexion principally from the 
portion of scripture which has previously been the sub- 
ject of meditation. I might mention the names of se- 
veral men in England, not less illustrious for their pie- 
ty than their rank, in whose families you could never pass 
a whole evening without witnessing the delightful service 
which I have described. 

I cannot conceive of a more perfect and beautiful re- 
semblance to heaven in any thing earthly, than is to be 
found in a family, all whose members are united as 
well in the bonds of christian affection as by the ties 
of nature, and on whom the hallowed influence of a tru- 
ly religious intercourse is fully realized. Every thing 
moves forward harmoniously ; for all have been touched 
by the same divine impulse. Each one, instead of being 
absorbed in selfish gratification, is earnestly seeking the 
happiness of all the rest. There is no scope for the ex- 
ercise of parental authority ; for the most general expres- 
sion of the parental will, finds a ready interpreter in the 
spirit of filial affection ; and the wishes of the parent need 
only to be understood, to be obeyed. Between parents 
and children there is the utmost confidence on the one 
hand, and the utmost condescension on the other ; but it 
is confidence joined with reverence, it is condescension 
joined with dignity. Each member feels at liberty to 
communicate his sentiments and feelings to every other 
without the shadow of reserve ; while each one in turn 
takes delight in imparting wisdom, or strength, or com- 
fort, according to the measure of his ability. The scene 
of domestic worship, and especially the hallowed exerci- 
ses of the sabbath, partake deeply of the calmness, the 
sweetness, the sacredness, the strong and thrilling affec- 



76 

tion, that characterize the communion of the redeem- 
ed around the throne. And the prospects of such a fami- 
ly — who can describe them ? They will be helpers of 
each other on their way to the grave ; and when the last 
survivor is falling into the arms of death, how delightful 
the thought that they are all about to be re-assembled in 
the calm region of everlasting rest ! And then for those 
who have mingled here, to be united there ; for those who 
have bowed the knee at the same domestic altar, to cast 
their crowns together at the Redeemer's feet ; for those 
who have cheered each other in their sorrows, and aided 
each other in their conflicts, through the daily intercourse 
of a life, to be rejoicing together in a complete deliver- 
ance from all sin and suffering, and in the prospect of 
everlasting ages of happiness and glory ; — imagination in 
her boldest flights cannot portray the incomparable bles- 
sedness of such experience as this ! Be it my privilege 
to belong to a family, all whose members are walking to- 
gether in christian intercourse in the way to heaven, and 
I will count myself a thousand fold more happy and more 
honored, than if I could call the mightiest monarch on 
earth my father or my brother ! 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CHRISTIAN INTERCOURSE OF YOUTH. 

It is a remark justified alike by reason and experience, 
that the character which a young christian is to form, and 
carry with him into hfe, will probably take its complex- 
ion, in no small degree, from the influences to which he 
is subject at the beginning of his course. It is equally 
obvious that the character which is generally formed by 
christian youth at any given period, must in all probabili- 
ty determine the general character of the church through 
at least one generation ; for to say nothing of the influ- 
ence which they exert in the early part of their course, 
the time is not distant when the chief labor and responsi- 
bility will devolve upon their hands. Whether, therefore, 
the particular interests of each member, or the general in- 
terests of the whole body, be considered, it is matter of 
great moment that all the influences to which christian 
youth are subject, should be of a sound and healthful 
kind; and as religious intercourse properly conducted, 
exerts a most benign influence in forming the character, 
it is vastly important that this privilege should be faith- 
fully improved. 

It is highly desirable, owing to the inexperience of 
christian youth, and the need they stand in of coun- 
sel and guidance, that much of their intercourse should 
be with christians more advanced in age and experi- 

7* 



78 

ence than themselves. I am well aware that it is a fault 
of many young persons who have hopefully entered on 
the christian course, that they have too much confidence 
not only in their own strength, but their own wisdom ; 
and that while they are full of the hope, and joy, and 
zeal, which are often incident to a recent conversion, 
they are ready sometimes to look with distrust on all 
the more calm operations of christian feeling, and even 
to interpret the soundest lessons of practical wisdom, as 
the suggestions of coldness or unbelief. They are espe- 
cially liable, in these circumstances, to undervalue the 
counsels and instructions of more experienced christians ; 
and to choose to rejoice together in the ardor of their first 
love, rather than to listen to the monitory voice of age 
and wisdom. But nothing is more certain than that this 
is a great practical error. If they are indeed the disci- 
ples of Christ, they are utterly incapable of estimating the 
trials that are before them ; or the danger they are in of 
falhng into forbidden paths, of wounding their own peace, 
and bringing dishonor on the cause of Christ ; and they 
need to be met here by advice and warning which are the 
result of a more extensive experience than their own. — 
Or if, as is by no means improbable, they have deceived 
themselves, and are indulging the hypocrite's hope, it is 
by mingling with those who have been tried and proved 
by a long course of holy hving, that their delusion will 
be made known to them. And it is not merely from 
christians of highly cultivated minds and extensive gene- 
ral intelligence, that they may derive important aid ; for 
it often happens that those in the humbler, and even the 
humblest, walks of life, are found to be more rich in spi- 
ritual experience, and more capable of detecting a false 



79 

hope, and ascertaining and confirming a good hope, than 
many a professor in the higher circles of society, who is 
distinguished for intellectual culture and refinement. 

It has not unfrequently resulted from the spirit of self- 
confidence which mars the character of many young chris- 
tians, that they have not only undervalued the privilege 
of intercourse with those of maturer years and more ad- 
vanced experience, but when they have been in their pre- 
sence, have manifested an offensive and dictatorial for- 
wardness. I remember, for instance, to have heard of a 
case, in which a venerable president of one of our colle- 
ges was present in a small religious circle, and one of his 
pupils — a self confident and beardless stripling, rendered 
himself so offensively conspicuous by the exuberance of 
his remarks, that not a word fell from the lips of the wor- 
thy president during the whole evening. Young persons 
should remember that such a course is fraught with injury, 
alike to themselves and others. While they deprive them- 
selves of the advantage they might otherwise enjo}^, they 
cherish in their own bosoms a spirit which is the exact 
opposite of christian humility ; and on the other hand, 
they repel and wound those who are deeply interested in 
their comfort and usefulness, and have both the ability 
and disposition to render them most important service. 

But christian youth are also to cultivate a free inter- 
course with each other. Nearly the same considerations 
apply here, which have already been mentioned in respect 
to brothers and sisters of the same family. Supposing 
they have commenced the christian life about the same 
time, they will find it easy to commune with each other 
in respect to the various parts of their religious experi- 
ence, without reserve ; and the advantage which they 



80 

may derive by a comparison of thought and feeling, and 
by joining in common supplications, will be realized in 
the enlargement of their religious views, and the invigo- 
ration of their pious affections. Or even if they are not 
of nearly the same age as christians, yet the fact that they 
are at the same period of life will still impart to their in- 
tercourse an air of greater freedom and confidence ; and 
while all may be mutually benefitted, those of the great- 
er experience will be especially useful to those in whom 
the principle of divine life, if it have been implanted, has 
but just begun to operate. A meeting of christian youth 
for free conversation on subjects of experimental piety, in 
connexion with prayer and reading the scriptures, punc- 
tually attended at stated periods, would no doubt be one 
of the best means that could be devised for aiding their 
growth in grace, and giving to their piety a sound, con- 
sistent and elevated character. 

Let christian youth, moreover, not only in the family, 
as has already been suggested, but in more extended cir- 
cles, associate for mutual improvement in religious know- 
ledge. As the business of sabbath school instruction de- 
volves, in a great degree, upon this class, perhaps there 
could not be a better opportunity for accomplishing this 
end, than is furnished in connexion with the weekly pre- 
paration for the sabbath school exercise. Let the teach- 
ers of a sabbath school, and as many other young chris- 
tians as are disposed to associate with them, meet stated- 
ly every week for free conversation on the portion of scrip- 
ture which is to constitute the lesson of the succeeding 
sabbath — each one having diligently studied it in private ; 
let there be a perfectly unreserved interchange of views 
in respect to the meaning of every part of it ; let each feel 



81 

at liberty to suggest whatever difficulties may occur to 
him, and bring out the result of his own reflection and 
reading for the consideration and benefit of all ; and let 
God's blessing be devoutly implored in connexion with 
the exercise ; and it is almost certain that the individuals 
who are thus associated will soon acquire an extensive 
knowledge of God's word. At the same time, it is hard- 
ly necessary to say that such an exercise would serve to 
keep alive their zeal as teachers, and would be a pledge 
for the enduring and increasing prosperity of the school 
with which they are connected. 

It is proper also that christian youth should associate 
for the promotion of various benevolent objects. It can- 
not be denied that it is owing, in no small degree, to the 
young men of our country — ^though, by no means, exclu- 
sively, to professors of religion — that the Temperance 
cause has gone forward with such unexampled success ; 
and indeed there is scarcely any great and good object 
that has attracted the regard of the christian community, 
which does not owe a considerable measure of its success 
to the enterprising spirit of our youth. Let christian 
youth generally associate for the promotion of the great 
cause of truth and piety, in whichever of its hallowed 
departments they choose to act ; — no matter whether their 
immediate object be the circulation of the bible, or of re- 
ligious tracts, or the education of ministers, or the sup- 
port of missionaries, or the emancipation of the poor, 
degraded African, or any thing else that looks towards 
the moral renovation of the world ; while the result of 
their efforts will tell gloriously on the destinies of their 
fellow-men, there will be a quickening and grateful influ- 
ence exerted upon their own characters. They will thus, 



82 

in the happiest manner, become trained in the school of 
benevolent action ; and will early be imbued with a spirit 
which will render them, as long as they live, fellow-work- 
ers unto the kingdom of God. 

While it is at once the duty and privilege of christian 
youth, in any circumstances, to mingle together, as op- 
portunity offers, with a view to mutual religious improve- 
ment, there are some peculiar reasons for such intercourse 
between professors of religion, who are members of the 
same literary institution : and the number of such at 
this day, in our academies, and especially in our colleges, 
is very considerable. These young men need the benefit 
of christian intercourse, because they are, in some respects, 
peculiarly exposed to temptation. There is danger that 
their literary pursuits will engross their whole attention ; 
and that, in their eagerness to cultivate the intellect, they 
will neglect the greater business of keeping the heart. 
There is danger that they may come under the influence 
of an unhallowed ambition ; that they may grow vain of 
their own superior success, on the one hand, or envious of 
the greater attainments of their associates, on the other. 
And there is danger, moreover, that, by being so frequent- 
ly and so directly in contact with those of their own age 
and pursuits, who treat religion either with indifference 
or contempt, they will come insensibly to lose sight, in 
some degree, of their christian responsibilities, and to 
lower their standard of christian character. It is a la- 
mentable fact that the history of most of our colleges fur- 
nishes instances not a few, of young men having entered 
them, giving rich promise of christian fidelity and useful- 
ness, whose spirituality has gradually declined under the 
influence of temptation, until there has scarcely remained 



83 

any visible mark of distinction between them and those 
through whose instrumentality they have been ensnared. 
And if they are, by the very circumstances of their con- 
dition, thus exposed, and actually do, in many instances, 
thus stumble and fall, how manifestly are they bound to 
endeavor to fortify themselves against temptation, by mu- 
tually keeping each other under a christian influence ! As 
they would avoid the guilt of a grievous backsliding, and 
the odium of being held up as hypocrites or apostates, 
and the cruel ingratitude of wounding afresh that Saviour 
who was bruised for their iniquities, let them hold fre- 
quent and intimate communion together, with a view to 
quicken each others' zeal, to arm each other more thorough- 
ly for the conflict with surrounding temptations, and in 
every way to subserve each others' spiritual interests to 
the extent of their power. 

And while this class of youth stand peculiarly in need 
of all the benefit that can be secured by christian inter- 
course, they are furnished, by their condition, with as 
good an opportunity for it as can be desired. The case 
is hardly, in any respect, different from that of brothers 
of the same family, living under the same roof. Where 
those who occupy the same apartment are both, or all, 
professors of religion, there may be more or less in the 
conversation of every day — to say nothing of the hours 
of morning and evening devotion — which may exert up- 
on each a benign and healthful influence. And then there 
may be frequent meetings, consisting of a larger or a 
smaller number, for the express purpose of religious in- 
tercourse ; and these meetings may be constituted with 
reference to intimate acquaintances and personal friend- 
ships, or on any other principle which may seem desirable. 



84 

If it should occur to any one that the system of study 
in most of our literary institutions is designed to occupy 
the whole time, so that there is none left for the inter- 
course which I am urging, my reply is, that a suitable 
degree of this intercourse, while it furnishes relief to 
the mind from purely intellectual pursuits, prepares it for 
acting in those pursuits with more freedom and vigor ; 
and I venture to say that, wherever the experiment has 
been made, this remark has been fully justified by the 
result of it. That calm and peaceful state of the affec- 
tions which christian communion is adapted to produce, 
exerts a direct influence upon the intellect, giving it in a 
higher degree, the command of its own powers, and bring- 
ing it into action under a more impressive sense of re- 
sponsibility. I would suggest to any religious student, 
who is disposed to complain of want of time for inter- 
course with his christian companions around him, or 
rather, who is willing to urge this as an apology for 
neglecting such intercourse, whether the evil would not be 
entirely removed by a faithful improvement of the time 
which he devotes to conversation of a mere worldly, if not 
absolutely frivolous, character. Let professors of religion 
in these circumstances accustom themselves to relax from 
the habit of severe mental effort, by communing with each 
other in respect to their most important interests ; let the 
retired walk for exercise, in which only two or three 
friends are brought together, be improved for the purpose 
of devout and edifying discourse ; and the secret will 
quickly be learned, that distinguished scholarship and 
eminent piety are by no means incompatible ; and that 
he who apologizes for the neglect of christian intercourse 



85 

from the lack of time, foolishly trifles with his own con- 
science, and cheats himself out of a rich blessing. 

Moreover, christian youth who are brought together 
in a literary institution, have in view, in most cases, the 
same profession : far the greater part of them are looking 
forward to the christian ministry. As this is the most 
responsible office which a mortal can sustain, and has a 
more direct and momentous bearing than any other upon 
the eternal destinies of men, how suitable is it that they 
who are anticipating its duties and responsibilities, should, 
even at an early period, interchange their sentiments and 
feelings respecting it, and aid each other, so far as they 
can, in the great work of preparation. No human mind 
can estimate the amount of good, which may result — 
which, in some instances, has resulted from intimate com- 
munion among christian youth, who have been associated 
during the progress of their education. The first mis- 
sion from this country to the heathen was projected by 
Mills, Hall, Richards, and perhaps one or two other de- 
votedly pious young men, while they were members of 
Williams college. Other instances might be mentioned 
in which the resolution for missionary life has been form- 
ed, in similar circumstances ; — a resolution which has 
subsequently been carried into effect, and has proved itself 
to have been the germ of a rich amount of spiritual bless- 
ing to the heathen world. Let other christian youth, 
placed in a similar condition, remember that if they are 
faithful in communing together as christians, they cannot 
know the amount of good they may be accomplishing, 
not only for themselves but others. The plans which 

8 



86 

they form may remain unexecuted, and the prayers which 
they offer may remain unanswered, for years ; and yet 
those plans may ultimately go into effect, and those pray- 
ers be answered, in a train of blessings which an angel's 
tongue could not describe, nor an angel's mind conceive. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CHRISTIAN INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THE HIGHER AND 
LOWER CLASSES. 

There are two considerations which seem to lie at the 
foundation of all proper views of the subject to be pre- 
sented in this chapter. The first is, that God has not 
only given the same nature, the same capacities, the same 
principle of immortality, to persons in the higher and low- 
er walks of life, but that christians in all the ranks of 
society, have been redeemed by the same blood, sancti- 
fied by the same Spirit, are sustained by the same living 
hopes, and are ultimately to share in the same glorious 
reward. The other is, that God, in his providence, has 
been pleased to constitute various distinctions in society ; 
giving to some, measures of talent, and wealth, and influ- 
ence, which he withholds from others. That there is this 
inequality in the distribution of the divine gifts, no one 
can doubt, for a moment, who casts his eye around him ; 
and that this inequality was intended to be the foundation 
of certain distinctions, is taken for granted in the whole 
tenor of scripture, and especially in all those passages 
which prescribe the reciprocal duties of superiors and in- 
feriors. That these distinctions may be improperly mag- 
nified, and greatly abused, there is abundant proof in the 
whole history of man ; but they were ordained by infinite 



88 

wisdom and goodness notwithstanding ; and that for most 
important purposes. 

Now it is a dictate of reason, that every condition in 
life has its appropriate course of conduct ; in other words, 
that men are to act with reference to the circumstances 
in which Providence has placed them. What then is 
the inference from the fact, that christians in the higher 
and lower walks of life, are made of one blood, are the 
servants of one master, the subjects of one redemption ? 
Most clearly 5 that they are bound to recognise and treat each 
other as brethren. And what again is to be inferred from 
the fact that some of them are elevated in their worldly 
condition, while others are known only in the walks of 
obscurity ? Doubtless it is, that their treatment of each 
other, while it is always to be worthy of the relation of 
christian brethren, is to be modified, in some respects, 
by the difference in their providential allotments. While 
the former consideration should no doubt exert the 
primary influence, the latter ought, by no means, to be 
overlooked. 

It would seem to be the intimation of Providence that, 
as a general rule, the greatest degree of christian intima- 
cy should be found among those who hold the same rank 
in society ; for while it may ordinarily be expected that 
persons in such circumstances will most readily find op- 
portunities for intercourse with each other, there will also 
be a general similarity of taste and feeling which will 
serve as a powerful means of mutual attraction. There 
is perhaps rarely a christian who will not find, on reflec- 
tion, that the friend to whom he is accustomed to unbo- 
som most freely the secrets of his religious experience, is 
one whose habits and feelings, in other respects, are gen- 



89 

erally in accordance with his own, and who withal occu- 
pies the same place in society with himself. There are 
certainly exceptions from this ; but the general fact is un- 
questionable. 

But then it admits of no question that christians are to 
mingle freely with their fellow christians beyond the cir- 
cle into which they are more immediately thrown by the 
allotments of Providence ; in other words, the high and 
the low, the rich and the poor, the learned and the igno- 
rant, are to meet and commune together, not merely in 
the sanctuary, or at the table of the Lord, but in a more 
private and social manner, as the disciples of a common 
master. How much of this intercourse there shall be, 
every christian must determine for himself by a refer- 
ence to the unerring standard of duty ; and, of course, 
no general rule can be given, which will apply to all par- 
ticular cases, as each case may be modified by its own 
peculiar circumstances ; nevertheless, I think it is easy 
for any christian to decide that, even in our own country, 
where there are fewer obstacles to this intercourse than 
any where else, there is much less of it than the spirit of 
the gospel, or the interests of either the higher or lower 
classes, demand. Is it not a melancholy fact that, in a 
large proportion of evangelical churches, especially in our 
more populous towns, the members in humbler circum- 
stances are scarcely known to many of their brethren and 
sisters of more elevated condition, unless it be from their 
occasional meetings at the communion table ? 

I would say, in general, that it is exceedingly desira- 
ble that the members of each church should all be per- 
sonally known to each other, in order that they may feel 
a deeper interest in each others' spiritual prosperity, and 

8* 



90 

be enabled the better to discharge their reciprocal obliga- 
tions ; and I would have, at least, so much intercourse 
between the different classes as to secure this important 
end. Let them come together, not merely at the weekly 
lecture or prayer meeting, but occasionally also at each 
others' dwellings ; and let every other consideration for the 
time, be lost sight of, in the hallowed communion of 
sanctified hearts ; and let all the formalities of worldly 
intercourse give way to that sacred and delightful free- 
dom which a fervent piety always inspires. But the oc- 
casion on which christians in the higher walks are more 
especially bound to seek intercourse with those in hum- 
bler circumstances, is when the latter are in affliction. 
When the hand of God has fallen heavily upon them, 
and, by some adverse dispensation, their scanty pittance 
has been swept away ; or when death has come into their 
dwelling, and broke some tender tie, and set their hearts 
to bleeding in anguish ; or when sickness has withered 
their energies, and thrown them upon the charity of the 
world, and the question forces itself upon them, * What 
will become of their poor helpless children when they are 
in the grave ;' — in these, and all other circumstances of 
affliction into which they may be thrown, let their more 
favored brethren and sisters count it a privilege to fly to 
their relief and consolation. Let them go in the affec- 
tionate spirit of their Master ; and proffer both their sym- 
pathy and their aid ; and let them bless God that he has 
given them the ability not only to comfort them that 
mourn, but to administer to the wants of the helpless 
and destitute. I have known some christians, and espe^- 
cially some females, whom Providence has placed high 
in the ranks of affluence and honor, who have been so 



91 

awake to every note of sorrow among the poor and 
wretched, when death seemed to be looking into almost 
every dwelling, and the fountains of human wo to be 
well nigh broken up, that I can scarcely think of them 
but as angels of mercy ; and I anticipate for them, at the 
last, from the compassionate Redeemer, the exalted Judge, 
that most welcome benediction, " Inasmuch as ye have 
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me." 

As every condition in life has its peculiar temptations, 
so there is danger here, both on the right hand and on 
the left. There is danger not only that there will not be 
a suitable commingling of christians in the higher and 
the lower classes, but that this undue reserve and dis- 
tance will be connected with feelings which are unworthy 
of the christian character. The great evil to be guarded 
against by the former, is a spirit of pride ; — a disposition 
to pass by their christian neighbors of humbler condition 
with an air of indifference, w^hich shall seem to them to 
say that there is nothing that can screen poverty from 
neglect. I have known instances in which professed 
christians of high standing in the world, have allowed a 
poor but worthy member of their own church, to sicken, 
and languish, and suffer, for months, almost at their very 
door, without indicating even by one kind inquiry, that 
they had any bowels of tenderness or compassion towards 
him ; and other cases have I known in which even a look 
of recognition on the part of an obscure christian towards 
one who has moved in circles above him, has been met 
with a haughty and chilling reserve, which was intended 
as a signal that no intercourse could be expected. These 
are indeed extreme cases ; and it is to be hoped, not of 



92 

every day's occurrence ; but it cannot be denied that 
more or less of this proud spirit is frequently manifested ; 
and every christian in the higher circles of society has 
reason to take heed lest he be brought under its influence. 
There are considerations enough, which one would 
suppose, might occur to the mind of any christian, as a 
rebuke to the first risings of this unhallowed temper. 
Suppose you are distinguished from most of your fellow- 
christians by the amount of wealth, or talent, or influence, 
you possess ; — but have you forgotten who it is that hath 
made you to differ? And have you forgotten that the 
superior gifts which have been bestowed upon you, were 
designed not for the benefit of yourself alone, but of oth- 
ers ; — not to cherish your pride, but to increase your use- 
fulness ? Has it occurred to you that these distinctions 
of which pride is so ready to take advantage, will all 
pass away with your breath ; that they exist independent- 
ly of moral character ; that a distinction which infinitely 
outweighs them all — that of earnest and elevated piety — 
may be possessed by the obscurest individual you meet, 
and in a degree which, perad venture, may cast into a 
deep shade your own spiritual attainments ? And has not 
that obscure disciple a claim upon thy regards as a brother in 
Christ ? Has he not experienced the efficacy of the same 
atoning blood, and the same renewing grace ; and is he 
not rejoicing in the prospect of the same final rest, with 
thyself? And art thou not pledged to him as a brother, 
by the condition of that covenant to which thou hast 
freely given thy consent ? He is thy brother, even though 
he may be clothed in rags, and live in a hovel ; and if 
thou art ashamed of the relation, take heed lest He who 
in condescension has styled himself the believer's elder 



93 

brother, should disown thee for thy pride, when he is 
making up his jewels. 

But if there is danger that christians in the more ele- 
vated walks of life, will make too much of this distinc- 
tion, and will be disposed to look superciliously on those 
below them, and scarcely to recognise the tie of christian 
brotherhood beyond the circles of worldly greatness, so 
also there is danger, on the other hand, that a spirit of 
envy will corrode the breasts of good men in humbler cir- 
cumstances, and that they will be satisfied with nothing 
short of a complete annihilation of those distinctions 
which Providence has manifestly ordained. I have in 
my eye, at this moment, a striking example of this envi- 
ous spirit ; — a man who, I believe, makes higher preten- 
sions to holy living than most professors with whom lam 
acquainted, but who is constantly betraying a temper 
which shows that religion is far from having in subjection 
his whole heart. His favorite and perpetual theme is the 
pride of his neighbors ; the evil which grieves his spirit 
more than every other is the pride of his neighbors ; and 
really you would suppose, judging from his conversation, 
that if this one thing were fairly taken out of the way, 
and the distinction between the higher and lower classes 
blotted out, and all professors of religion, whatever their 
worldly condition might be, recognised as, in every re- 
spect, on an equality — you would imagine, I say, that 
nothing more remained to be done before the introduction 
of millenial glory. And I am sorry to believe that this 
individual to whom I refer, represents a far more nume- 
rous class in the church than at first view would be sup- 
posed to exist ; or rather, the spirit which is here exem- 
phfied, operates in very many with greater or less degrees 



94 

of strength. Even where professors in the higher circles 
manifest a disposition to cultivate a christian friendship 
and intercourse with those in the lower, there is frequent- 
ly a reluctance on the part of the latter to accede to their 
proffers, growing out of an unreasonable impression that 
they regard it as condescension to meet them even as 
christians ; and ^ if there must be a distinction,' they are 
ready to say, though certainly not in the right spirit, ' let it 
extend to every thing.' Instances, if I mistake not, of- 
ten occur, in which christians in humble circumstances 
are themselves entirely responsible for the fact that they 
have little or no intercourse with their brethren and sis- 
ters of more elevated condition : the privilege is really 
proffered to them, and their jealousy keeps them from ac- 
cepting it^ at the very time that they are talking about 
the barriers which have been erected in the church by 
human pride. 

Let no one suppose that I intend to charge this indis- 
criminately upon all christians, or even the mass of chris- 
tians, in the obscurer classes of society — on the contrary, 
I well know that there are multitudes to whom these re- 
marks do not at all apply, and who cherish towards their 
superiors in worldly standing the very spirit we could de- 
sire. Nevertheless, as I have already remarked in re- 
spect to the former class, every individual is in danger ; 
and has reason to commune diligently with his own heart, 
lest this spirit which I am reprobating should gain domi- 
nion over him, while yet he has not begun to suspect him- 
self under its influence. Remember that it was the de- 
sign of Providence that these distinctions should exist, 
and that your desire that they should be abolished has in 
it the elements of a spirit of complaint against God. Re- 



95 

member that the amount of human happiness depends 
little on external circumstances — almost entirely on the 
state of the heart ; and that, even if you are neglected by 
those who are bound to love and treat you as brethren, the 
peace of an approving conscience, and the smile of an 
approving Saviour, may well make you bear it without a 
murmur. But be not too ready to surmise that there is 
neglect, where none is intended. Cheerfully accept the 
expressions of christian friendship that are proffered you ; 
and never let it be your fault, if there is a greater distance 
between you and some of your fellow professors, than is 
consistent with the obligations into which you have mu- 
tually entered. Cherish habitually that spirit of good 
will, which will make your own bosom the dwelling of 
peace, which will secure to you the blessedness of him 
that thinketh no evil, and which will dispose you to en- 
deavor to benefit by ^our prayers those with whom you 
are prevented from mingling in christian intercourse. 

There are advantages to be derived from intercourse be- 
tween christians of the higher and lower classes, which 
strongly urge upon each class the importance of cultiva- 
ting it. To those in a humble condition, it brings the 
consolation and relief which their depressed circumstan- 
ces often greatly require ; and it is adapted to cherish in 
them a spirit of contentment. If, amidst the multiplied 
troubles and embarrassments incident to their condition, 
they can see those whom Providence has raised above 
them, coming down to sympathise in their sorrows, and 
proffer their kindness, and point them to sources of con- 
solation, and if need be, to relieve them from want ; it 
will do much to cheer them in the rugged road which 
they have to travel. It will awaken the spirit of grati- 



96 

tude, not only towards their fellow christians, who thus 
become their benefactors, but towards Him whom they 
recognise as the ultimate source of every blessing. It 
will serve also to enlarge the circle of their sympathies 
and their influence ; to make them feel more strongly the 
value of religion, and the hallowed nature of the tie that 
binds the christian brotherhood together ; to disarm them 
of that unkindly spirit which so easily wakes at the ap- 
pearance of the pride of life ; and finally to increase their 
means of doing good, by giving them access to many whom 
their influence would otherwise never reach. Let this 
intercourse be maintained to the extent that the spirit of 
the gospel fairly requires, and the tone of piety and of ac- 
tive usefulness among the lower classes, would at once 
be elevated to a point far beyond what has hitherto been 
attained. 

But you mistake if you imagine that the whole benefit 
of this intercourse is confined to christians in the humbler 
classes ; on the contrary, it is shared, and sometimes even 
in a higher degree, by those in more favored circumstan- 
ces. It is adapted, in any case, to keep them from ma- 
king an idol of worldly distinction, by showing them that 
a degree of comfort, in many instances, perhaps far ex- 
ceeding their own, is consistent with a state of abject 
poverty ; and it accomplishes the same end still farther, 
by revealing to them cases in which there has been but a 
step from affluence to indigence ; in which one hour of 
vicissitude has swept almost every earthly comfort into 
the tomb. It is fitted also to carry their minds up to God 
in a devout recognition of his sovereignty, and in fervent 
gratitude for his goodness ; for who but God hath made 
them to differ from those whom they see thus holding com- 



97 

munion with poverty and tears ? It is adapted too to de- 
velope the principle of christian benevolence in the heart i 
to cherish those amiable and generous feelings which con- 
stitute, in no small degree, the image of that Saviour 
who went about doing good, and gave his life a ransom 
for us. And last, though not least, it not unfrequently 
secures to the christian the privilege of witnessing exhi- 
bitions of faith and piety, which are pre-eminently fitted 
to quicken and elevate his own devout affections ; for it 
is in the walks of obscurity, and amid scenes of wretch- 
edness, that christian faith often achieves its most glori- 
ous victories. And here my mind fastens with indescri- 
bable interest upon a case long since gone by, in which I 
was permitted for weeks to commune with a spirit which 
was well nigh ripe for heaven, and which was waiting 
for its release amidst a scene of external wretchedness 
which has scarcely had a parallel within my observation. 
The individual to whom I refer, had, for years, been sub- 
ject to total blindness ; and besides the most abject pover- 
ty, there were certain domestic trials which cannot here 
be described, but which always bring agony to the heart. 
In her last lingering sickness it was my privilege to be 
often at her bedside ; and though years have passed away 
since she departed , I have not lost the savor of her piety 
to this hour. Oh I remember well how cheerfully she 
bore a weight of affliction with which comparatively few 
have had to struggle ; how gratefully she acknowledged 
the smallest favor ; how patiently she endured the keen- 
est bodily sufferings ; and how her sightless eye balls 
rolled as if in transport, w^hen she talked of the grace and 
faithfulness of her Redeemer, and of the house not made 
with hands, and of the exceeding and eternal weight of 

9 



98 

glory. I stood by her death bed, and caught one of her 
last whispers ; and it was concerning Jesus and his salva- 
tion ; and when I saw that the spirit was gone, I could 
not forbear to exclaim, ^ What a contrast between dying 
in this hovel of wretchedness, and living and reigning in 
the palace of the king of glory !' Since that period, I 
have mingled in many a dying scene which has been 
marked with triumph, and in which I could not doubt 
that angels were beckoning the spirit away to its everlast- 
ing rest ; but never, no never, have I witnessed one, in 
which were brought together so much of the bliss and 
the wo of dying, in which there was displayed such a 
contrast between earthly degradation and heavenly glory, 
as that which I have described. The hovel where she 
died, seemed to me to have been consecrated by the scene ; 
and often to this day, does my mind return to that hum- 
ble spot, as being associated with the most triumphant 
departure of an immortal spirit, which it has ever been 
my privilege to witness. 



CHAPTER X. 

EPISTOLARY INTERCOURSE AMONG CHRISTIANS. 

It is one of the kind provisions of Providence that, 
while it is the lot of those vrho are endeared to each other 
often to be thrown asunder, and sometimes separated du- 
ring a great portion of their lives, it is still their privilege 
to keep alive their interest in each others' welfare, and 
sometimes render each other the most important service, 
by means of an epistolary correspondence. This privi- 
lege belongs to christians in common with others ; and it 
is so important as a medium^ of religious intercourse, that 
I trust it will not be deemed improper that I should here 
make it the subject of a distinct chapter. 

A correspondence, such as is here contemplated, may- 
have for its leading object the communication of religious 
intelligence. It is always a matter of interest to the true 
christian, to hear any thing respecting the progress of the 
kingdom of Christ ; to know what is doing, whether by 
the agency of God or man, whether in a revival of reli- 
gion, or in the progress of benevolent effort, to sustain 
and advance the interests of that kingdom. And such 
intelligence, while it is adapted to confirm the christian's 
faith in the promises of God, and to bring him upon his 
knees in devout thanksgiving, has a tendency also to in- 
crease the fervor of his supplications, and the vigor of 
his efforts, in reference to the same glorious object. Sup- 



100 

pose the individual with whom you correspond, is cast 
by Providence in a broad field of missionary labor ; or 
suppose he is himself a missionary, encountering perils of 
the heathen, or perils of the wilderness, for the sake of 
making known the glorious gospel of the blessed God ; — 
how much would there be in the communications that 
would naturally come from his pen, to quicken your zeal 
and your prayers for the salvation of the world ! Or 
suppose him to be in the midst of an extensive and pow- 
erful revival of religion, where a spirit of prevailing pray- 
er was bringing to the heart of many a sinner the con- 
vincing influences of the Spirit of God, and the new song 
was bursting forth on every side from lips hitherto unac- 
customed to the language of praise ; or suppose him ac- 
tually to have passed through such a scene, and to have 
been the witness of all that wonderful work of God, and 
to be able to form a sober and rational estimate of its bless- 
ed results ; — do you not believe that a faithful record of 
his observation and experience during that period, would 
serve to rouse you from spiritual languor, if you had fal- 
len into that state, and to impart to you something of the 
spirit of a revival ? Instances have frequently occurred in 
which a communication from some private individual to 
his friend, describing the spiritual wants and desolations 
of the region around him, has wakened in the bosom of 
that friend a spirit of sympathy and holy benevolence, 
which has been rapidly communicated to the hearts of 
other christians, and the result has been that some new 
and noble project has been started, which has been the 
means, under God, of bringing tens of thousands who 
were sitting in darkness, to rejoice in the light of the gos- 
pel. Indeed, if I do not mistake, some of the grandest 



101 

benevolent institutions of the age, owe their origin to pre- 
cisely such a circumstance as I have described. And then 
again, in how many instances have revivals of religion, 
so far as human agency is concerned, been traced to a 
similar origin I An individual in the midst of a revival 
writes to his friend a description of the scenes that are 
passing around him ; and this news of the triumph of 
God's grace circulates through a community of christians ; 
and it brings up to their minds in painful contrast the apa- 
thy that prevails among themselves ; and in the train of 
this comes the spirit of humiliation and self-reproach, of 
dependance, and zeal, and confidence in God ; and pre- 
sently a cloud of mercy appears in the heavens no bigger 
than a man's hand ; and this strengthens their faith and 
encourages their importunity ; and the result is, that what 
at first was an object of desire, has become a matter of 
experience ; and here is another revival to be added to 
the history of the triumphs of divine grace, and to yield 
its revenue of glory to God, and of joy to the angels. I 
doubt not that every christian who has been at all con- 
versant with revivals, will be able to recall cases, in which 
these remarks have a complete illustration. 

Or such a correspondence may be taken up chiefly with 
discussions respecting various parts of religious truth : 
it may have respect either to the leading truths of the 
gospel in which the individuals concerned are agreed, and 
may be designed merely to render more extensive and ex- 
act each others' views of the christian system ; or else it 
may relate to some minor points of doctrine, in regard to 
which there is an honest difference of opinion between 
them. In the former case, there is room not only for the 
vigorous exercise of the intellect, but for warm and quick- 

9* 



102 

ening appeals to the heart : while there is an opportunity 
for holding up divine truth before the mind in all its rich- 
ness and glory, and bringing out the results of deep and 
patient reflection, the practical bearings of the truth may, 
at the same time, be illustrated and urged, and thus the 
affections elevated, and the life improved, by its influence. 
In the latter case — that is, vrhere the correspondence re- 
lates to points of diflerence confessedly not fundamental — 
it presents, in some respects, a much better opportunity 
for an investigation of the disputed subject, and for arriv- 
ing at a just conclusion respecting it, than could be fur- 
nished by personal conversation ; for the mind is less lia- 
ble to perturbation, and proportionally more likely to 
form a correct estimate of evidence : there is not the same 
danger that it vrill commit itself by unguarded assertions, 
which, on the one hand, in consequence of their unrea- 
sonableness, it will be hard to defend, and on the other, 
on account of a lurking pride of opinion, it will be hard 
to retract. And even where there is no change effected 
on either side, the discussion itself will perhaps be more 
likely to be profitable, than if it were conducted by ordi- 
nary conversation ; for there is not only less danger to the 
feelings in the former case than in the latter, but the mind 
moves with greater confidence, and its powers are brought 
into more regular, if not more vigorous, operation. 

Or else a religious correspondence may be chiefly of 
an experimental character, and may have for its leading 
object, the culture of pious affections. In letters that are 
written with reference to this end, there is often some- 
thing equally sublime and delightful. Let an intelligent and 
devoted christian sit down in the unrestrained confidence 
of friendship, to indulge his warm feelings in writing to 



103 

some beloved friend of a kindred spirit ; and let him tell 
of his trials and conflicts on the one hand, and of the 
strength he has received, and the victories he has gained 
on the other ; let him record the joys he has experienced 
in finding God his refuge in the time of trouble, and the 
sweet aspirations of faith and hope which he has breath- 
ed forth, when the light of the divine countenance has 
shone into his soul ; let him tell how the heaviest weight 
of sorrow has seemed light, when his eye has been turn- 
ed towards his heavenly home ; and there will be in all 
this an elevation of pious sentiment^ a living, burning 
spirit of devotion, that can scarcely fail to awaken a devout 
response in the heart of him who contemplates it. We 
need not go beyond our own country to find instances 
both of men and women, whose correspondence is pre- 
served for the benefit of the world, who have left upon 
their letters the impress of a spirit which seemed well 
nigh ripe for heaven. Though some of them have long 
since entered into rest, these delightful effusions of chris- 
tian friendship and elevated piety remain to represent them 
on earth, and to assist in guiding other pilgrims to their 
destined home. 

Having alluded to the fact that the letters which 
pass between christian friends are sometimes published 
after their decease, I cannot forbear, in this connexion, 
to remark that this has not unfrequently been done with 
bad taste and questionable discretion. I do not think 
that it ought to be considered, in all cases, as treason 
to the memory of the departed, to give to the world even 
the more fugitive thoughts they may have committed 
to paper, provided they are of sufficient value to war- 
rant it; and I cannot suppose that even the fact that the 



104 

individual would not probably have listened to such a 
proposal, if it had been made to him in anticipation, ought 
always to prevail against such a measure ; for it is more 
than possible that he may have formed too low an esti- 
mate of these productions, and they may have an adap- 
tation to do good of which he had not the most distant 
conception. I cannot, at this moment, think of a case 
more in point as an illustration, than is furnished by the 
published letters of Robert Hall. The editor of his works 
had been, during a considerable part of his life, one of 
his most intimate friends ; and no man knew better than 
he Hall's excruciating sensitiveness to the least defect in 
style, and how little he was satisfied with the result of his 
own most labored and most masterly efforts ; neverthe- 
less he judged, (and I am sure the unanimous voice of 
posterity will be that he judged rightly) that it was pro- 
per to draw forth from the archives of private friendship, 
many of his letters, which were probably written without 
a suspicion that they would ever meet any other eye than 
that of the person to whom they were addressed. But 
these letters bring out the character of the man, as no 
other of his writings do ; they show that he was great 
even in the smallest matters ; and Doctor Gregory, in- 
stead of having been unjust to the memory of his friend, 
in giving them to the world, has brought additional honor 
to his memory, and conferred a favor no doubt upon all 
coming generations. But notwithstanding there are ca- 
ses, and many cases, in which it is perfectly right and 
proper to bring to light, for the benefit of the world, cor- 
respondence which was intended to be private, I am 
sure that this has often been done, where the prospect of 
any good result was too slight or equivocal to justify such 



105 

a procedure. There have been instances in which post- 
humous letters have been published, revealing secrets of 
a personal nature, which ought never to have met the 
public eye, and containing nothing of sufficient impor- 
tance to constitute the shadow of an apology for this rude 
violation of the dictates of honor and friendship. As a 
general rule, I would say that private letters should not 
be published after the writer of them is gone, unless they 
are of such a character as to subserve some useful end ; 
but if they are likely to be of important service to the 
cause of truth and piety, and no special obligation of 
friendship is violated in their being given to the world, 
I know of no good reason why they should be withheld. 
There is, if I mistake not, a peculiar interest attached 
to a correspondence between christians who reside in dif- 
ferent countries, and in distant parts of the world from 
each other. If the providence of God has actually brought 
them together, and permitted them thus to form a per- 
sonal acquaintance, how delightful to have that acquaint- 
ance, which, it may be, was the result of a single acciden- 
tal meeting, or one brief interview — continued, and cher- 
ished, and rendered a source of mutual advantage, during 
the residue of life ! An attachment formed between 
christians under these circumstances, and cherished by a 
subsequent correspondence, has sometimes been produc- 
tive not only of great personal gratification, but of much 
advantage to the general interests of religion. And even 
between individuals who have never seen, and are never 
likely to see, each others' faces in the flesh — individuals 
who will always be separated by the wide ocean till they 
meet in heaven, there may be, and often has been, a cor- 
respondence, which has made them cease to regard each 



106 

other as strangers, and ere long bound their hearts togeth- 
er with the cord of a strong and enduring friendship. — 
The great and good Doctor Erskine of Edinburgh cor- 
responded with several of the most distinguished divines 
of his day in this country ; and though not one of them 
had ever seen him, I venture to say that his letters to them 
could scarcely have breathed more of genuine christian 
affection, if they had been the companions of his whole 
life. How delightful the thought that two such men as 
Edwards and Erskine, after having been in the habit of 
correspondence for many years, should have had their 
first meeting in heaven ; that that communion which those 
great minds had on earth while their sphere of action was 
on different continents, should be resumed and perpetua- 
ted in a world where they see face to face, and mingle in 
the same song of praise, and walk around the throne to- 
gether in the light of heavenly glory ! 

I cannot forbear to mention what I deem of great im- 
portance to the interests of religion, a growing spirit of 
intercourse, not only between individual christians, but 
ecclesiastical bodies, and theological institutions, of dif- 
ferent countries. Between several of the largest of these 
bodies and institutions in this country, and similar ones 
in Great Britain, and on the continent of Europe, there 
is now a free correspondence ; and the effect of it has al- 
ready been manifest in a growing reciprocal interest in 
the benevolent operations and religious prospects of each 
country. And this is a pledge of greater union of effort 
and prayer in behalf of the common cause : it looks as 
if the nations of Christendom would soon see eye to eye, 
and would move forward in a solid phalanx for an attack 
on the empire of darkness. Let this delightful correspon- 



107 

dence be continued and perpetuated. Let christians on 
this side, and christians on the other side, of the Atlantic, 
cherish towards each other the warm spirit of brotherly 
affection. Let this hallowed intercourse of minds and 
hearts ripen into a pure and elevated friendship, which 
shall be a source of light and blessing on each side of the 
ocean, until christians of every name and every nation 
shall be brought together as one ransomed, glorified com- 
munity. 



CHAPTER XL 

PERVERSION OF CIIRISTIAN INTERCOURSE. 

Such is the weakness and depravity of human nature, 
that there is nothing good in this world, which is not lia- 
ble, by abuse, to become the instrument of evil ; and so 
far are christians here, in their best state, from having 
reached the fulness of the stature of perfect persons in 
Christ, that even some of their richest privileges, and 
most invaluable blessings, are often perverted to foster 
tempers and frames of feeling, which are at war with 
their own spiritual improvement, and are rebuked by the 
genius of the gospel. This remark applies in its full 
force to the intercourse of christians with each other. 
That it is in itself a rich blessing, has, I trust, been made 
abundantly evident from many of the remarks in the pre- 
ceding pages : that it may be, and often is, perverted to 
serious evil, I shall endeavor to show in the present 
chapter. Some of the evils to which, by perversion, it 
is made subservient, are the following : 

1. The neglect of other equally or more important du- 
ties. God has given us our time to be occupied in the 
discharge of all the duties which he requires of us ; and 
he has given us time enough for this ; and if we com- 
plain of the want of time for our appropriate duties, we 
shall find either that some part of it goes needlessly to waste, 

10 



110 

or that we are giving to one set of employments hours 
which, it is the clear intimation of Providence, should be 
devoted to another. Hence it is easy to see that an em- 
ployment which, in itself, may be very praiseworthy and 
useful, may, under certain circumstances, be wrong ; that 
is, it may occupy time which Providence designed for 
other purposes in their place still more important. This 
remark applies to christian intercourse : however desira- 
ble it is when holding its proper place among the duties 
of the religious life, it may either occupy too much time, 
or improper seasons may be allotted to it ; and in either 
case, it indirectly ministers to evil. 

It has sometimes happened — though the case may not be 
of very frequent occurrence — that christians have yielded 
to the desire of mingling with each other, so far as im- 
properly to neglect their secular concerns. For instance, 
I have known cases in which professors of religion who 
have had to labor for a subsistence, have actually neglect- 
ed, for a season, to make suitable provision for their fami- 
lies, for the sake of devoting themselves almost exclu- 
sively to social religious exercises. And I have known 
other cases in which females have gone out to a morning 
prayer meeting, (not that I am unfriendly to an attendance 
on a morning prayer meeting under suitable circumstan- 
ces,) and have left several little children to take care of 
themselves, and the breakfast to provide for its own appear- 
ance upon the table ; and the consequence has been that 
the whole order of the family has been disturbed, and an 
ungodly husband has given loose to his angry passions in 
a torrent of invective, first against his wife, and next 
against the cause to which she was devoted. I would 
have christians who are tempted to such a course, re- 



Ill 

member that there are no duties binding upon them more 
imperatively, than those they owe to their families ; and 
that inspiration hath uttered a sentiment in respect to the 
man who provides not for his own, and especially for 
those' of his own house, which may come nearer being 
applicable to their case than they have ever imagined. I 
say again, I do not believe that this case often occurs ; 
and I am well aware that where an improper degree of 
religious intercourse keeps christians from their appropri- 
ate secular duties in one instance, an unreasonable devo- 
tion to the world probably interferes with a suitable reli- 
gious intercourse in hundreds of instances ; — ^but as it 
does sometimes occur, and always involves serious evil, I 
have thought proper to notice it. 

So also christians frequently substitute a kind of gene- 
ral intercourse with each other, which turns to very little 
account, for more direct efforts to advance the cause of 
Christ. There are certain topics connected with reli- 
gion, which they find it an easy matter to introduce, and 
which they often bring up without much regard to time 
or circumstances. One of these is the signs of the times 
in repect to the state of religion in the immediate neigh- 
borhood ; whether the church is generally sunk in spiri- 
tual apathy, or whether there are some indications of a re- 
vival of religion. I once knew an individual — and I fear 
there are many others like him — whom I scarcely ever 
met, but that he introduced the subject of religion in 
some form or other ; and would often exhibit great fervor 
in his remarks ; and yet there was not a more ineflScient 
member than he of the church with w^hich he w^as con- 
nected. His conversation seemed to take for granted that 
there was a great work to be done ; but his conduct 



112 

seemed to take for granted that he did his part of it by 
talking. Probably many professed christians who have 
never suspected themselves under the influence of this 
spirit, will discover, upon examination, that they are not 
entirely free from it ; and if they will commune with their 
hearts, after having conversed freely and fervently on the 
importance of a revival or the means of extending it, 
perhaps they may find that the secret feeling is, that, as 
they have done the planning, they may fairly enough leave 
others to execute ; in other words, as they have done the 
talking, they may leave others to do the work. 

There are other cases in which christian intercourse is 
manifestly perverted to a neglect of keeping the heart. 
No duty which the christian has to perform requires so 
much self-denial, and such vigorous and constant effort as 
this ; and in proportion to the difficulty which it involves 
is the temptation to neglect it. There are indeed profes- 
sors of religion who sink so low in spiritual apathy, that 
they have no occasion to make any compromise with con- 
science for the entire neglect of this duty ; but in most 
cases, and especially in the earlier part of a course of 
backsliding, there is doubtless an attempt to substitute 
something else in place of it ; and for many persons there 
is no more convenient substitute than religious conversa- 
tion. They find it so much easier to yield to the ex- 
citing influences of a social meeting, than to probe their 
own hearts, and ascertain their own errors, and keep 
down their rising corruptions, that they choose the former 
to the neglect of the latter ; and so long as they busy 
themselves in conversing upon subjects in any way con- 
nected with the interests of Christ's kingdom, they ima- 
gine that the more private concerns of the world within 



113 

may safely enough be left, in a great degree, to the con- 
trol of accidental influences. And while religious inter- 
course may be resorted to, as an apology to the conscience 
for the neglect of more spiritual duties, so also, where no 
such motive operates, it may crowd out those duties, by 
occupying an undue portion of time. Let an individual 
devote nearly the whole time that he allots to religious 
purposes, to intercourse with his fellow christians, no 
matter in what way, and the inevitable consequence will 
be that the duties of the closet, on which his growth in 
grace primarily depends, will be very inadequately per- 
formed ; and whatever good he may gain to himself, or 
accomplish for others, by the course he adopts, will be 
more than counterbalanced by the loss he will sustain in 
respect to his personal comforts and attainments in piety. 
2. Christian intercourse is often perverted to purposes 
of censoriousness. A censorious spirit is always an un- 
lovely feature in the human character ; but it is especially 
so in the character of a christian : nevertheless, it must 
be acknowledged that scarcely any unhallowed temper 
prevails more extensively than this, among the professed 
disciples of the benevolent Redeemer. Wherever this 
spirit exists, it will be found that the individuals con- 
cerned censure their fellow professors for some fault from 
which they suppose themselves at least tolerably free, if 
not bright examples of the opposite virtue. It will be 
found, for instance, where persons are together who re- 
gard themselves as somewhat distinguished for spirituali- 
ty and zeal, that they will be exceedingly prone to cen- 
sure others for worldliness and religious apathy ; and not 
improbably will condemn some as possessing these quali- 
ties, who differ from themselves in nothing except that 

10* 



114 

their zeal is more pure and less boisterous. On the other 
hand, where christians are together who are unduly afraid 
of excitement, and who wish to be known, first of all, 
as the staunch advocates of order, they will not improba- 
bly speak with undue severity of their more zealous 
brethren ; and may perhaps represent them as complete- 
ly given up to fanaticism, when the prevailing influence 
under which they are acting is that of earnest and eleva- 
ted piety. No man is likely to censure another for faults 
which he knows are prominent in his own character ; and 
hence, when you have learned at what points a censorious 
professor regards himself as least vulnerable, you have 
ascertained the points at which he will most probably 
assail the characters of his brethren. 

I have known private meetings professedly for purposes 
of religious improvement, which, I could not doubt, were 
fitted to accomplish a directly opposite end, by fostering 
some of the worst passions of the heart. The individuals 
concerned, while they have seemed to be scarcely conscious 
of an imperfection in themselves, have been able to discover 
little else than the most flagrant faults in their brethren 
and sisters around them. If there has been a prevailing 
state of apathy, to their fellow professors belongs the 
whole blame ; or if there is a partial revival, it is their 
fault alone that it does not embrace the whole community 
in its influence. ' There are those in the church,' say 
they, ' whose icy coldness chills every pious feeling with 
which it communicates. The prayer meetings are so 
formal that no lively christian can find any comfort in 
them ; and the old fashioned way is kept up of calling on 
a certain class to pray, when there are numbers obliged 
to be silent, who are waiting and longing for the privi- 



115 

lege. And the minister too — ^how little of the spirit of a 
revival he has ; how indifferent to the spiritual interests of 
his flock ; how formal in his preaching and his prayers ; 
how much afraid to speak the truth boldly, lest by doing 
so, he should offend some of the more proud and worldly 
of his hearers !' And with this strain of unhallowed in- 
vective have been mingled prayers which partook largely 
of the same spirit ; in which the great God has been told 
of things which did not exist ; and if petitions for a re- 
vival have been offered, they have been accompanied 
with little short of imprecations upon those w^ho were 
supposed to be indifferent to it. I have no doubt that 
some truly pious people have, for a season, been so far 
under the influence of delusion, as to have done all, and 
more than all, which I have described ; but nothing is 
more certain than that such a course, so long as it con- 
tinues, brings a cloud over their christian character. 
Their intercourse with each other is not only a source of 
mutual injury, by promoting in their own bosoms a spirit 
exactly opposite to that of the gospel, but so far as its 
influence extends, it fans the flame of discord, and thus 
prevents the progress of true piety, all around them. 

3. Christian intercourse is often perverted to cherish a 
spirit of false humility. No doubt it is, at once, the 
privilege and the duty of professors, mutually to impart, 
in their more private intercourse, a knowledge of each 
others' personal experience ; that thus they may be fel- 
low helpers together in the christian life. Bat this is 
something quite different from a habit which some have, 
of referring, almost as a matter of course, in every con- 
versation, to their own delinquencies, and sometimes 
reproaching themselves for faults with which they do not 



116 

seem to be specially chargeable. I recollect one good 
woman whom I was once somewhat in the habit of visi- 
ting, who never seemed so much at home on any topic as 
her own coldness and neglect of duty ; but when, after 
having listened to her confessions regularly, at every visit, 
for a long time, I ventured, on one occasion, to take her at 
her word, and admit the grounds of her self-reproach, and 
suggest to her that a conviction of having wandered was to 
no purpose, if it did not lead to reformation ; her manner 
evidently betrayed surprise, and seemed to say that, howev- 
er well such remarks might come from herself, it was with 
an ill grace that another even assented to them. It is a 
characteristic difference between true and false humility, 
that the former does, and the latter does not, discover it- 
self without effort ; the one talks of deficiencies because 
it feels and laments them, — the other, because the lan- 
guage of confession would seem to indicate the spirit of 
penitence ; and penitence is one of the leading elements 
of- piety. No doubt there may be much of spurious hu- 
mility in a true christian ; but it always looks suspicious 
for a professor of religion to be at great pains to make 
confession of his own errors, and especially of his gene- 
ral coldness and apathy. Such acknowledgments made, 
as they too often are, with little apparent feeling, are fit- 
ted to weaken the sensibility of one's own conscience, 
and to awaken painful doubts in others whether there is 
any thing beyond the mere profession. 

4. Christian intercourse is perverted to purposes of os- 
tentation. This is done sometimes in respect to the mat- 
ter of the conversation, and sometimes in respect to the 
time and manner of introducing it. Not unfrequently 
christians talk boastingly of their own exercises ; and 



117 

seem to have forgotten not only the horrible pit and the 
miry clay, but their present dependance on the influences 
of divine grace ; and sometimes when they recognise this 
dependance abundantly in words, they show, by the gene- 
ral spirit of their remarks, that they have unlimited confi- 
dence in their own strength. Sometimes professors have 
reported in meetings, with an air of triumph, the results 
of their own private labors ; and have spoken with un- 
doubting confidence of the conversions of which they 
have been instrumental ; and in the act of ascribing the 
glory to God, have made it painfully manifest that they 
were taking the glory to themselves. This has a bad ef- 
fect on the hearts of the individuals immediately con- 
cerned ; because, while it originates in a wrong state of 
feeling, it is fitted to cherish it into a habit. Nor is its 
influence in any respect desirable on those christian friends 
with whom they associate ; for it serves to mar the plea- 
sure of their intercourse, or what is worse, through the 
power of example, they gradually come under the influ- 
ence of the same spirit. So also there is frequently an 
ostentation in respect to the time and manner in which 
religious conversation is introduced. The secrets of 
christian experience are freely spoken of in the presence 
of the world, and in circumstances which look as if there 
was some special design or effort to attract attention. 
And instances have not unfrequently occurred, in which 
two individuals have monopolized the conversation of a 
considerable circle, confining it almost exclusively to their 
own feehngs ; and have persevered in doing so, even af- 
ter one or more attempts have been made to give it a more 
general and useful direction. This again is injurious in its 
influence upon those who talk and those who hsten ; for 



118 

it betrays a spirit which it is wrong to indulge, and the 
exhibition of which, like any other bad example, it is dan- 
gerous to witness. 

5. A spirit of self-righteousness is another of the evils 
to which christian intercourse, by being perverted, is of- 
ten made subservient. There is scarcely any unhallowed 
feeling in the bosom of the christian, so subtle in its ope- 
rations as this ; — none which is exterminated, or even de- 
tected, with greater difficulty. There is nothing which 
will not serve as aliment for it ; and not unfrequently, 
when the christian imagines himself most free from its in- 
fluence, it lives and operates in that very exercise of 
mind, in which he is congratulating himself upon having 
gained the victory over it. It is easy to see how this 
spirit often gathers strength by means of the intercourse 
which christians have with each other. In holding such 
intercourse, they recognise the fact that they are discharg- 
ing one of the duties of the religious life ; — a duty too 
which is usually considered as indicating a spiritual mind, 
and the faithful performance of which is certainly a mark 
of distinction even in the church ; and hence there is 
great danger that a lurking spirit of self-righteousness will 
take advantage of this, and entrench itself more strongly 
in the heart by the very means which ought to be instru- 
mental of exterminating it. The secret, though unac- 
knowledged, and perhaps undetected, feeling, is, that what 
they have been doing has had in it something of merit ; — 
something to catch and please the eye of omniscience ; 
and when they have separated, no doubt it has sometimes 
been with that spirit which dictated the thanksgiving of 
the Pharisee^ that he was not as other men. 

And in addition to this, it is a melancholy fact that the 



119 

conversation of professors of religion is often of a charac- 
ter peculiarly adapted to foster a self-righteous spirit. 
Whenever they indulge in uncharitable remarks respect- 
ing their fellow professors, there is great reason to fear 
that they are secretly looking at their own characters in 
the lustre of comparison. Or when they speak with 
great freedom, and without respect to circumstances, of 
their own private exercises, adverting with little of the 
appearance of humility to the peculiarities of their own 
experience ; they have reason to take heed lest they are in- 
dulging a spirit themselves, and cherishing a spirit in oth- 
ers, which has little resemblance to that feeling of entire 
un worthiness and dependance, which prompts its posses- 
sor to sink into the dust, and give to God all the glory of 
his salvation. 

6. The intercourse of professors of religion with each 
other is probably often perverted to minister to their self 
deception. No doubt it encourages this spirit, just so far 
as it promotes a spirit of self righteousness ; for it is obvi- 
ous that the latter never prevails, but that it includes, in 
some degree, the former. But is there not reason to be- 
lieve that professors blind themselves and each other more 
directly by tbeir conversation ; applying the flattering 
unction to their own souls, by using language which 
would indicate a high tone of christian feeling, when the 
feeling is not present ; and doing substantially the same 
thing for those with whom they converse, by seeming to 
take for granted the elevation of their piety, and the cer- 
tainty of their salvation. Let an individual accustom 
himself to use the language of strong faith, or deep hu- 
mility, or fervent desire, as indicating a tone of feeling to 
which he is conscious he ought to attain, though he has 



120 

not attained it already ; and at no distant period he will 
come to imagine that the expressions of his lips are a true 
index to the feelings of his heart ; and thus he will be 
liable to settle down with the impression that he has 
reached the manhood of piety, when he is only a babe in 
Christ ; or else that a principle of religion has been im- 
planted in his heart, when he is really a stranger to all 
gracious exercises. And in like manner, let an individu- 
al, (no matter at how low a rate he may estimate his re- 
ligious attainments) frequently hear himself indirectly 
quoted by his fellow professors as a model of christian 
character ; — let him hear his gift of conversation, or ex- 
hortation, or prayer, greatly extolled by those in whose 
judgment he is accustomed to confide ; and the result will 
almost certainly be, that he will conclude, in this instance, 
to trust the judgment of others rather than his own ; and 
thus may deceive himself, perhaps fatally, in respect to 
his own character. This remark has great force in its 
application to young professors : in consequence of the 
imprudent remarks which have been addressed to them, 
by those who have had more experience and ought to have 
had more wisdom, than themselves, they have formed er- 
roneous conceptions of their own character and condition, 
and sometimes no doubt have been confirmed in that hope 
which fails when God taketh away the soul. 

And what is the great practical inference which pro- 
fessed christians ought to deduce from all that has been 
said in this chapter ? Undoubtedly it is, that their inter- 
course needs to be carefully guarded ; and that the lack 
of a proper degree of vigilance and attention, may con- 
vert that M^hich was intended as a rich blessing, into a 
source of most serious evil. Let every one, then, con- 



121 

tinually watch his own heart in reference to this matter, 
and devoutly supplicate the aids of God's Spirit, that 
all his communings with his fellow christians may serve 
rapidly to advance both him and them in their prepara- 
tion for an eternal fellowship in the purchased joys and 
honors of heaven. 



11 



CHAPTER XIL 

OBLIGATIONS TO CHRISTIAN INTERCOURSE FROM THE 
PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THE AGE. 

Enough has been said in the preceding chapters, to 
show that it is the duty of the disciples of Christ, at all 
times, and under any circumstances, to cultivate, as they 
have opportunity, a free and affectionate intercourse with 
each other. But, if I mistake not, there are some con- 
siderations which render this duty peculiarly obligatory 
upon christians at the present day, growing out of the 
character of the times on which we have fallen. With 
some of these considerations I shall occupy the present 
chapter, and thus conclude this part of the general sub- 
ject I have undertaken to treat. 

1 . The present age possesses a peculiarly social cha- 
racter. Previous to the Reformation, owing to the thick 
darkness which brooded over the face of Christendom, 
the different parts of the human family were, to a great 
extent, secluded from each other. Such was the organi- 
zation of society, and such the spirit of the times, that 
even the people of neighboring nations scarcely mingled 
together at all, unless it were in some enterprise of con- 
flict and blood ; and those who professed to be the follow- 
ers of Christ, were either immured in monasteries, or 
performing some solitary pilgrimage, or wearing out their 
lives in deep retirement, in rearing monuments of meta- 



124 

physical acumen and absurdity. But the Reformation 
produced a mighty change in this respect : while it gave 
a shock to the established forms of society from which 
they were destined never to recover, it woke up the hu- 
man mind to a sense of its own dignity and power, and 
put it upon great and noble efforts in the various depart- 
ments of action. A more remote consequence was, that 
the barriers by which different branches of the human 
family were separated, began to be broken down ; and a 
more free intercourse was established among the nations ; 
and the light that shone first in one part of the world, 
darted, almost with the rapidity of a sunbeam, to another. 
And this state of things has, on the whole, been pro- 
gressive down to the present hour. Many events which 
seemed least auspicious of good, such as the conflicts and 
convulsions of nations, and the deluging of countries with 
blood, have, no doubt, under a wise and good Providence, 
been rendered instrumental of breaking up the foundations 
of many generations, and diffusing just notions in respect 
to the nature of society, in the train of which may be 
expected to follow a complete political and moral renova- 
tion. 

But not to dwell upon the past, the present age far ex- 
ceeds, in this respect, all that have preceded it. It is im- 
possible to look abroad among the nations of Europe, with- 
out perceiving, at once, that the spirit of reform and the 
spirit of freedom are every where ; that the privileged or- 
ders of society are rapidly on the wane ; and that the 
great doctrine upon which our own government is built— 
that all men are by nature free and equal, is likely ere 
long to become the political orthodoxy of the world. — 
The effect of this is, not only that different nations are 



125 

brought together in friendly intercourse in a far greater 
degree than formerly, but that the different classes of so- 
ciety mingle together much more, the distance there once 
was between them being, to a great extent, annihilated. 
And even in this country, where the obstacles to a free 
intercourse which I have noticed have never existed, the 
present age has still a peculiarly social character. The 
increasingly enterprising spirit which pervades all classes, 
the freedom which marks the character of our institutions, 
the interest which every individual has, and the influence 
he may actually exert, in the affairs of legislation, as 
well as the almost unprecedented facilities for communica- 
tion throughout the land — all these various circumstances 
serve to bring men far more in contact with each other 
than they were in former times. Scarcely any thing is 
more common than to meet with an individual who is per- 
sonally known in almost every part of our country ; and 
for persons at opposite extremities of the land to confer 
with each other, is an event of almost every hour's occur- 
rence. 

Now from all this I derive an argument, by which to 
urge upon the disciples of Christ a more liberal and ex- 
tended intercourse. It is an argument which ought to be 
felt by christians who reside in countries but partially free ; 
which yet are coming more and more under the influence 
of the spirit of freedom. Surely they are bound to take 
advantage of the increased facilities which are hereby fur- 
nished for communicating with their fellow christians, in 
respect to the great and holy interests of Christ's kingdom. 
It may be urged also, with good reason, upon christians in 
our own country ; for here, more than any where else, is 
every obstacle to religious intercourse taken out of the way. 

IP 



126 

There is a constant commingling of persons of all classes in 
the ordinary concerns of life ; and \¥hy should not the op- 
portunity thus furnished for religious intercourse be faith- 
fully improved ? If the age is more social in its general 
character than any which has preceded it, surely it ought 
to be proportionally more social in its christian character ; 
and if it is not so, the disproportion reflects dishonor up- 
on the church. 

2. The present age is distinguished by its facilities for 
the extension of the gospeL Within less than half a cen- 
tury, the obstacles to the fulfilment of the Saviour's com- 
mand to preach the gospel to every creature, seemed well 
nigh insurmountable : both the pagan and papal nations 
were not only entrenched in delusions which had been 
fostered by the prejudices of ages, but such were the 
barriers with which they had surrounded themselves, 
that they were, to a great extent, inaccessible. But in 
the progress of events, and, in some instances, by means 
which, to human wisdom, would have seemed most im- 
probable, these barriers have almost all been taken out of 
the way ; so that there is now scarcely a spot on the face 
of the earth, whither the gospel may not be carried with 
comparative ease and safety. To mention but a single 
case — ^the recent revolution in France has accomplished 
more, in a few days, in opening a way for the free circu- 
lation of the gospel through that great and interesting na- 
tion, than might have resulted from the ordinary and 
more quiet course of events, in half a century. In France, 
though the spirit of persecution now and then breaks out, 
yet, in general, the inhabitants may be said to breathe 
the air of freedom ; and at this moment, nothing but pe- 
cuniary means are wanting, to carry forward a system of 



127 

measures which, at no distant period, should result, by 
the blessing of God, in a complete downfall of supersti- 
tion and error, throughout that mighty population. And 
what is true of France, is true, in a greater or less de- 
gree, of almost every nation : the providence of God, 
during the last half century, seems to have been at work 
with special reference to preparing the world for the uni- 
versal reign of truth and holiness. 

And in these arrangements of Providence, who cannot 
perceive that there is a loud and pressing call upon chris- 
tians, to commune much with each other, in reference to 
the advancement of Christ's kingdom ? Is it not their 
imperative duty to associate frequently and extensively 
with reference to this object ; to stir each other up to high- 
er and holier efforts ; to bring their united wisdom and ener- 
gy to the formation and execution of plans, with a view to 
take advantage of the benevolent arrangements of Provi- 
dence for sending the gospel to every creature ? If the 
great Head of the church has, in his wisdom and good- 
ness, prepared the way, in a great measure, for this bless- 
ed consummation, surely it is time for his people to embo- 
dy themselves and go forward to the great work, which, 
in infinite condescension, he has committed to them, with 
a degree of zeal, energy, and perseverance they have ne- 
ver yet manifested. 

3. The present age, at least so far as our own country 
is concerned, is peculiarly an age of revivals. On the 
leading facts connected with this topic it cannot be neces- 
sary that I should dwell ; for every one knows that the 
effusions of the Holy Spirit, since the beginning of the 
present century, have constituted an era in the history of 
the American church ; and few christians among us will 



128 

hesitate to identify, in their anticipations, the future pros- 
perity of the church in this land with the prosperity of 
the cause of revivals. Perhaps too there are few, if any, 
who will not admit that a season of revival brings with 
it peculiar responsibility; that there is danger that the 
Spirit of grace will be grieved away for want of a vigo- 
rous co-operation among the disciples of Christ, or be- 
cause their efforts are not characterized by that wisdom 
which Cometh down from above. The history of the 
past supplies at once a powerful argument for activity 
and perseverance in this blessed cause, and a solemn ad- 
monition to all who are enlisted in it to take heed that 
it does not degenerate in their hands. 

Here again, what a sacred obligation rests upon the 
followers of Christ to cultivate the spirit of religious in- 
tercourse ! It is in the interchange of sentiments in con- 
versation, and in the union of hearts in prayer, that a re- 
vival must be expected to begin ; and in the same way, 
to a great extent, so far as human instrumentality is con- 
cerned, it must be carried forward, and guarded against 
abuses, and brought to its legitimate results. When re- 
ligion languishes, and the need of a revival begins to be 
deeply felt, what a call is there for christians to meet to- 
gether, to rouse each other to a higher sense of obligation, 
and to resolve unitedly upon a course of more vigorous 
effort ! And when the voice of anxious inquiry begins 
often to be heard, and some are pressing in at the straight 
gate, and there is a fearful uncertainty who will cherish, 
and who will resist, the influences of the Holy Spirit, 
how much occasion is there for the people of God to aid 
each other by an active and zealous co-operation ! And 
never is this necessity more urgent than when light first 



129 

dawns upon the soul, and induces a hope that its sins 
have been forgiven ; for there is always clanger that the 
convinced sinner will get rid of his anxiety by yielding 
to some miserable delusion ; and unless christians of 
knowledge and experience make it a special object, during 
a revival, to commune faithfully with those who hope 
they are the subjects of it, the result will almost certain- 
ly be that some, perhaps many, will take up with a false 
hope, and enter eternity at last with a lie in their right 
hand. So too, the future character and course of a young 
convert will depend much on his early religious associa- 
tions, and especially on the degree of counsel, instruction 
and aid, which he receives from those who are more ad- 
vanced in the religious life. Indeed a revival of religion 
is social in its very nature : every thing in the economy 
of a revival is fitted to bring christians together in holy 
intercourse : and if I mistake not, it will usually be found 
that, in this country at least, the degree of christian in- 
tercourse in any church will decide how much there is, 
in that church, of the spirit of a genuine revival. 

4. The present age is pre-eminently characterized by 
the spirit of action. I have already adverted to the fact 
that there is an enterprising spirit abroad in every depart- 
ment of human life ; and that the apathy which the 
mind of man had contracted during the iron ages of ig- 
norance and barbarism, is well nigh shaken off. But I 
refer here more particularly to the religious activity of 
the present day ; to the fact that so much is to be done, 
and so much is actually done, in sustaining and carrying 
forward that god-like system of charity, which is scatter- 
ing the richest blessings all over the world. Not that I 
believe the church is yet thoroughly awake to this great 



130 

concern ; — for the burden, or I should rather say the 
honor, of sustaining her benevolent operations, belongs, 
to this day, chiefly to a few ; nevertheless those who are 
awake, in any sense, are awake to action ; and there are 
two points of view, in which this feature of the age may 
be regarded as imposing a peculiar obligation on chris- 
tians to cultivate the habit of religious intercourse. 

In the first place, there must be a great degree of inter- 
course among the disciples of Christ, in order to secure 
to the activity of the age a right direction. It should be 
an object with them, to make every thing subservient, 
so far as they can, to the advancement of the Redeemer's 
honor ; to endeavor, by God's grace, to sanctify the en- 
terprising spirit of the men of the world ; or even, if it 
remains unsanctified, still to take advantage of it, to the 
extent of their ability, in helping forward the great cause 
of truth and righteousness. But the activity of the 
church needs to have a wise direction also ; and the weak- 
ness of human nature, as well as the history of the past, 
abundantly evinces that she is liable to err in her well- 
meant projects, and that the most vigilant caution is ne- 
cessary to secure her against mistakes of a deeply inju- 
rious tendency. Is not here then a call upon christians 
to maintain constant intercourse with each other ; — that 
the energies both of the church and the world, which 
are so extensively in operation, may be rendered tributa- 
ry to the advancement of human happiness, and the ex- 
tension of the Redeemer's glory ? 

But the obligation of christian intercourse may be de- 
duced still farther from the active spirit of the age, inas- 
much as it seems essential to guard the church against 
that decline of spirituality to which a high tone of active 



131 

effort exposes her. There is danger that christians, in 
their zeal for carrying forward great and good objects, 
which have an immediate bearing on the conversion 
of the world, will come to overlook, in some measure, 
that most personal and deeply interesting of all con- 
cerns—their own sanctification ; and thus, while they 
are working hard to dethrone Satan in the world without, 
he may be availing himself of these very efforts, and es- 
pecially of their suspended vigilance, to gain an advan- 
tage in the world within. There is much reason to fear 
that this evil has already been extensively felt in connex- 
ion with our benevolent operations ; and that it will be 
felt still more extensively, unless christians keep them- 
selves deeply impressed with a sense of their danger. 
And hence the great importance of their being fellow 
workers together, as well in reference to their mutual 
preservation from evil, as to the accomplishment of the 
greatest amount of good. Let their meetings be frequent, 
not merely to devise and carry forward plans for the re- 
generation of the world, but to cultivate a spirit of de- 
pendance, and humility, and faith, and prayer ; — all that, 
in short, which constitutes the essential elements of chris- 
tian character ; and the piety of the heart, and the activi- 
ty of the life, will go hand in hand together ; and the 
streams of benevolence which will flow out in living ac- 
tion will be in no danger of being exhausted, for the foun- 
tain will be kept full by a communication with the over- 
flowing fountain of everlasting love. 

And now, Christians, in view of the honor, the re- 
sponsibility, the danger, of living at such a period as this, 
will you not awake to the importance of increased fideli- 
ty in the duty I have been urging } In view of the un- 



132 

precedented advantages which this age brings -with it for 
promoting the cause of Christ, and in view of the dan- 
ger thatj in falling in with the designs of Providence in 
this respect, you may neglect your own spiritual interests, 
and thus obscure your evidences, and impair your com- 
forts, and ultimately lessen your christian influence, I 
would urge you to have much to do with each other as 
the disciples of a common Master. See to it that your 
intercourse accomplishes the double purpose of stimula- 
ting you to higher efibrts in doing good, and of keeping 
you unspotted from the world. Then will it be good for 
you, and good for this generation, and good for posterity, 
that the privilege of living together, and communing to- 
gether, has been granted you. And you may hope, with 
good reason, that you will impart something of excellence 
to the character of this age, which will not only be trans- 
mitted to future ages, but which you will hereafter recog- 
nise in the destinies of many of the ransomed and glori- 
fied around the throne. 



PART II. 



INTERCOURSE OF CHRISTIANS WITH THE WORLD 



CHAPTER I. 

THE christian's INTERCOURSE WITH THE WORLD IN 
THE COMMON CONCERNS OF LIFE. 

It is the ordinance of heaven that christians should not 
attain the fulness of the stature of perfect persons in 
Christ, without being subjected to a course of moral dis- 
cipline. Hence we find that they are usually continued, 
for a longer or shorter period, in this world of labor and 
trial ; and during their continuance here, they are sur- 
rounded by those who are unreconciled to God, and who 
know nothing of the sanctifying power of the gospel. 
And Providence has not left it at their option whether to 
mingle with these persons or not : on the contrary, the 
relations they sustain to them, as well as a great variety 
of scripture precepts, obviously require that, instead of 
attempting to withdraw from the world, they should min- 
gle in it, in a suitable manner, until they are removed to 

12 



134 

their final home. The design of Providence in this re- 
spect seems to be two-fold ; — firstj to improve and per- 
fect their own christian graces by labor and suffering ; 
and second, to secure the influence of their example and 
efforts for the benefit of the world. 

The relation which christians sustain to " those who 
are without," though it is often most unhappil}^ overlook- 
ed and perverted, involves responsibilities to which no one 
who seriously considers them can be indifferent. Every 
professing christian who is faithful in his intercourse with 
the world J has reason to hope that, by the blessing of 
God, he may save souls from death and hide a multitude 
of sins ; and on the other hand, if he exhibits a careless 
and unedifying example, he has reason to fear that he 
may be instrumental of evil to the souls of his fellow 
men, the extent of which it must be for the ages of eter- 
nity to reveal. 

It is a mistake into which many professors of religion 
have fallen, that nearly all that is to be done for the spiritu- 
al benefit of unrenewed men, is to be effected by means of 
direct personal efforts ; leaving little or nothing to the 
general influence of a pious example. That it is the 
duty of every christian to make direct efforts with refer- 
ence to this end, and to make them frequently, and to 
persevere in making them, is surely a point too obvious 
to require proof ; but it is equally certain that, in order to 
secure to them their legitimate influence, they must be 
accompanied by an exemplary daily deportment. I have 
known men — and who has not known them ? — who have 
done much less by direct efforts for the salvation of sin- 
ners than I could have wished, who were nevertheless so 
unexceptionable in the general tenor of their lives, so 



135 

humble and conscientious, so upright, and charitable, and 
forgiving, that though their influence was noiseless as the 
dew, there was still an energy in it which made it deeply 
and extensively felt. They were an epistle known and 
read of all men ; and even infidelity itself could not 
come within the atmosphere which surrounded them, 
without feeling itself impressively, though silently, re- 
buked. 

Without intending to present any thing like a complete 
directory in regard to this important field of christian du- 
ty, I will suggest a few hints which may help some pro- 
fessors to more faithful self-examination, and may excite 
all who contemplate them to greater watchfulness in respect 
to their every day deportment. I would say to every 
professing christian, 

1 . See to it that your intercourse ivith the world is never 
characterized by the spirit of exaggeration. It would seem 
that, in many minds, there is a constitutional tendency to 
this ;— a disposition to deal in the marvellous at the expense 
of sober verity. And it must be acknowledged that some 
professors of religion are unguarded in this respect, to a 
degree which subjects even their christian character to sus- 
picion. They may not indeed utter things in which there 
is no semblance of reality ; but their imagination throws 
around the sober fact so much imposing drapery, that the 
impression which is communicated is palpably false ; and 
besides, there is always reason to fear from the nature of 
habit, that the man who indulges a passion for exaggera- 
tion, will, from making a large story out of scanty mate- 
rials, gradually acquire the power of conjuring up the 
materials themselves. Oh how cutting it is to hear world- 
ly men say of a professor of religion the moment his 



136 

back is turned — ^^ that man's statements are to be re- 
ceived "with caution. What he says may be true ; but 
there is nothing in his character to convey any assurance 
of it." 

Beware then of the very beginning of such a habit. 
Be sure that all your statements are conformed to the lite- 
ral verity. Remember that if you are professedly en- 
gaged in narrating facts, you cannot call imagination to 
your aid but at the expense of truth. If you speak on 
subjects concerning which you are in doubt, see that the 
impression you convey is exactly conformed to "your ho- 
nest views ; and that you do not appear to be confident 
"when you are really doubtful. In this way you will leave 
upon the world a delightful impression of that godly sim- 
plicity which the gospel enjoins ; but, by a different course, 
you will certainly subject yourself to the imputation of 
being deficient in one of the cardinal moral virtues. 

2. Let all your pecuniary transactions he marked by the 
strictest honesty. The least departure from this in a pro- 
fessing christian is sure to draw upon him the eyes, and 
open the lips, of all who are willing to see religion pros- 
trate and bleeding in the house of her friends. Let it be 
said that a professor has failed in business under circum- 
stances which reflect greatly upon his integrity ; or that 
he has over-reached and defrauded his neighbor in any pe- 
cuniary transaction ; or that he has endeavored to take an 
undue advantage, even though he may not have succeeded 
in it ; and there are a multitude who will charge this to the 
religion of the gospel with as much confidence as if she 
were a living personage walking about the earth on er- 
rands of deception. ' Here,' it is said, ' is a specimen of 
the purifying influence of Christianity : a man who be- 



137 

longs to the church, and it may be, stands high in it, can 
nevertheless sacrifice conscience, principle, every thing, 
for the love of naoney !' What an argument this with 
an inconsiderate mind, already seeking apologies for the 
neglect of religion, for dismissing the whole subject, and 
sinking down into a habit of still deeper carelessness ! 

I once knew a man who was not only professedly a 
christian, but a christian of uncommon zeal and devoted- 
ness ; who yet, in the course of time proved himself one 
of the most desperate knaves I ever heard of. There 
was no external religious service which he was not ready 
to perform : in the sabbath school, in the prayer meeting, 
in the social religious circle, no man was more active than 
he ; and there was nothing in his exterior to indicate that 
his heart was not in it. But during this whole time, as 
it proved, he was devising and executing plans marked by 
the basest fraud ; and he scrupled not to violate every con- 
sideration of honor and friendship ; and even his relation to 
the church was not too sacred to be perverted to purposes 
of unjust gain. At length circumstances occurred which 
brought his character into suspicion ; and forthwith there 
was a disclosure which almost electrified the community 
in which he resided ; and it appeared, beyond all contra- 
diction, that there was nothing for which dishonesty was 
the qualification, which he w^as not capable of doing. — 
I know not whether he ever shed any tears of penitence 
in view of his conduct ; but I know that many christians 
felt the stirrings of a spirit of compassion towards him, 
while they were ready to weep at the deep wound he 
had inflicted on their Master's cause. I know too that 
the voice of reproach was heard, not against him alone, 
but against the religion which he had professed ; and more 

12* 



138 

than one infidel indulged in the language of insulting tri- 
umph, as if this were a pledge that the funeral of Chris- 
tianity herself would not long be delayed. 

Be it that this is an extraordinary case — yet unhappily 
not so extraordinary, but there is a large class of cases 
which are fairly represented by it ; — but is there not more 
or less of dishonesty often discoverable in the conduct of 
professors who would revolt at the suspicion of their being 
capable of studied fraud ? Are there not many who, in 
their pecuniary transactions, allow themselves to take un- 
due advantage of the necessities of their fellow men ; 
overlooking the golden rule of doing to others as we would 
that they should do to us ? Do they not offer apologies 
to their own consciences for doing unjustly, which they 
would not admit, for a moment, in reference to others ? 
And is there not reason to fear that some who allow 
themselves an undue degree of latitude in this particular, 
think to atone for any moral obliquity with which con- 
science may charge them, by exhibiting a proportionally 
greater degree of zeal in the things of religion ? I doubt 
not that many a man deceives himself, and perhaps fa- 
tally, by this very means ; — playing a trick with his con- 
science by practising dishonesty in the world, and virtually 
doing penance for it in the church. 

Hitherto, under this article, I have confined my re- 
marks to that species of dishonesty which is more imme- 
diately connected with pecuniary transactions ; but I can- 
not forbear to add that there are professed christians who 
would never think of stooping so low as to cheat a man 
in a bargain, who, nevertheless, in their common inter- 
course with their fellow men, are governed too much by 
a spirit of worldly policy. There are some men who 



139 

seem averse to treading in any beaten track, even though 
it happens to be in the path of virtue and "wisdom ; and 
instead of arriving at an end by a plain and honest course 
of means which every body would understand , they move 
in a mysterious way, and make you feel perhaps that their 
hand is upon you when you do not see it. A spirit of 
management seems to be a leading element in their con- 
stitution ; and it comes into exercise on every occasion 5 
insomuch that, after a while, their whole course of con- 
duct is determined, in a great measure, by considerations 
of mere expediency. Not that they will set at naught 
in theory any of the great principles of morality, or that 
they are always sensible to what extent they violate these 
principles in practice ; but the habit of balancing be- 
tween considerations of present loss and gain, has led 
them to think too little of the higher considerations of 
right and wrong ; and while they admit the obligation of 
every moral precept in the bible, they make it painfully 
manifest that neither the letter nor the spirit of these pre- 
cepts always controls their conduct. 

Now I am constrained to believe that this kind of policy 
in aw?/ person is exceedingly ill-judged and worse than pro- 
fitless. Because, in the first place, it involves a great waste 
of time and thought ; for, in most instances, a deep laid plan 
is the result of considerable intellectual labor ; and if the 
object to be accomplished, could be gained as well by 
open and honest means, it is manifest that the time and 
labor which have been expended, have been absolutely 
lost ; no other good having resulted than the pleasure of 
walking in a concealed path. And if the object could 
not be gained by a palpably fair and honest instrumentali- 
ty, it may well be questioned whether it ought to be gain- 



140 

ed at all. But in addition to this, the individual who 
adopts such a course, even admitting that many of his 
plans succeed to the extent of his wishes, sustains an in- 
calculable loss of influence, by the suspicion he awakens 
respecting his integrity. The consequence is that his 
best friends are afraid of him ; for they cannot tell but 
that policy may prevail even over friendship. And as for 
the mass of those whom he would wish to influence, his 
known character keeps them in the attitude of suspicion ; 
and even when he proposes an end which may seem per- 
fectly proper and desirable, they may not improbably hesi- 
tate to co-operate with him, lest he should have in his 
eye some ulterior end to which they would be unwilling 
to give their influence. 

But if this extreme policy be after all impolitic, as well 
as reprehensible, in any man, what shall be said of it in 
one who professes to have learned his rules of conduct 
from him in whose lips there was no guile ? I will not 
undertake to decide how far an individual may go in this 
course of artful dealing, and still have a renewed heart ; 
but sure I am that, just in proportion as any professor de- 
parts from the plain and open path of christian integrity, 
while he lessens his influence and usefulness with the 
world, he brings a reproach upon religion, and a cloud 
over his own character. I do not say that a man may 
not err greatly in this respect, and yet be saved ; but is 
there not reason to believe that he will be saved so as by 
fire ? 

I say then, professing Christian, in every situation hold 
fast your integrity. Never yield to a temptation to prac- 
tise fraud even on the smallest scale, or in respect to the 
most unimportant matter ; for he that is unjust in that 



141 

which is least will soon be unjust in much ; besides 
that the principle involved in each case is the same. — 
Avoid even the appearance of this evil ; and consent to 
make great sacrifices rather than subject yourself to a 
suspicion of having yielded to it. For the moment your 
character comes to be extensively suspected, your chris- 
tian influence is at an end. You may talk to the unre- 
newed sinner then as much as you will in respect to the 
salvation of his soul, and if he does not laugh you to scorn, 
he will turn away from you and call you a hypocrite. — 
And whatever efforts you may make for the conversion 
of men, will all be neutralized, and more, by your hav- 
ing a low character in the world for moral honesty. — 
' Oh,' said a man of the world concerning a professor, of 
equivocal integrity, and yet of high pretensions, ^ If I 
were to judge of him in the prayer meeting, I should 
think he was a saint just ripe for heaven : if I were to 
judge of him in the counting room, I should say that he 
was any thing but an honest man.' 

3. Cultivate a noble and generous spirit. I do not 
mean to intimate that a christian is not at liberty to claim 
his reasonable dues ; or that he may not fairly insist, in 
his intercourse with the world as a man of business, that 
the acknowledged principles of honorable dealing should 
be adhered to : nor do I intend that a man is bound, in 
virtue of his christian profession, or any thing else, to con- 
tribute to good objects beyond his real ability ; or that he 
is forbidden to have a proper respect to his own personal 
wants, or to make some provision for those who may be 
dependant upon him. So far from this, if the christian 
were tamely and habitually to submit to imposition from 
those with whom he associates, it would serve only to 



142 

encourage them in evil doing ; and as for taking care of 
himself and those who are committed to his charge, there 
is the united voice of Providence and Inspiration in favor 
of it ; and he vrho neglects it, violates at once the most 
obvious dictates of reason, and the plainest precepts of 
the bible. 

But while it is the christian's privilege, in prosecuting 
his secular concerns, to claim that the rules of fair and 
honorable business should be properly regarded, and while 
he has not only a right, but is bound, to regulate his ex- 
penses and his charities with reference to the circumstan- 
ces in which Providence has placed him, and the number 
who are dependant upon him, there is a mean and penu- 
rious spirit which ought never to find a place in his bo- 
som for an hour. It must be acknowledged that there 
are some professed christians, who, though they may not 
absolutely be liable to the charge of dishonesty, are so 
much under the influence of an avaricious spirit, that you 
might as well appeal to the rocks or the winds in behalf 
of any object of charity as to attempt to procure from 
them the smallest contribution. They hoard up proper- 
ty, as it would seem, for no other purpose than to gratify 
the passion for accumulating it. In your intercourse with 
them, perhaps you are not afraid of being actually cheat- 
ed, but you are sure they will insist upon the very closest 
bargain ; and if, by mistake, they have received a penny 
too little, it will haunt them as a mighty loss. Oh how 
these men incumber and dishonor the church ! No matter 
what amount of property they may have, every demand 
that is made upon them for charity is met by the plea of 
poverty, or the plea of numerous calls, or the plea of 



143 

having a family to provide for, or something else which 
may suffice as an apology for evading the claim. 

But there are instances in which good men fall into a 
habit, not merely of frugality, but of penuriousness, with 
a view to be able to give more for the cause of Christ. — 
They not only greatly retrench their own personal ex- 
penses, which, in many cases at least, is highly com- 
mendable, but manifest in their intercourse with the world 
a spirit of parsimonious exactness which causes their 
good to be evil spoken of. I would most sincerely honor 
and encourage every honest desire to advance the Re- 
deemer's cause ; but in the case to which I have here 
referred, I cannot doubt that whatever advantage may be 
gained, is gained at an expense which more than neutral- 
izes it. The christian who stoops to a dishonorable ac- 
tion, with a view to save something to consecrate even 
to the best of causes, is almost certain to lose more in in- 
fluence than he will gain in money. The world will look 
closely at the act, but will overlook the motive ; and not- 
withstanding the Searcher of his heart sees that his con- 
duct is dictated by a sincere desire to do good, the effect 
will inevitably be that his character will suffer, and his 
means of usefulness be proportionally abridged. 

Take heed then, Christian, that you never allow your- 
self in an act which the world can, with any show of 
reason, call dishonorable. It is the tendency of the gos- 
pel to enlarge the heart ; to cherish an enlightened pub- 
lic spirit ; to extend the circle of our affections and re- 
gards ; and to raise men above the influence of a grovel- 
ling selfishness. How painful is it then to have the cha- 
racter of a professed christian put in contrast with that 
of a mere man of the world, with a view to illustrate 



144 

the noble and disinterested spirit of the latter, and the 
mean and niggardly disposition of the former ! And yet 
it cannot be denied that some men, who make no preten- 
sions to piety, do, from a constitutionally noble spirit, 
commend themselves to the gratitude and respect of their 
fellow men ; while others, who are professedly living un- 
der the practical influence of Christianity, from the preva- 
lence of a naturally avaricious and illiberal disposition 
which religion has very imperfectly subdued, subject them- 
selves to the imputation of meanness, and even to expres- 
sions of contempt. Take care. Christian, that your own 
character in this respect is such as will bear not only to 
be brought into comparison with that of the most benevo- 
lent of the men of the world, but also to be referred to 
as a practical illustration of the ennobling spirit of the 
gospel. No matter how poor you may be — though you 
may have to work for your daily br^ad, or even be de- 
pendant on the charity of friends, you may still show 
that you have a generous spirit, and are incapable of a 
mean action. 

4. Guard against an austere and forbidding deport- 
ment, I have alluded to this already, as one of the hin- 
drances to the intercourse of christians with each other ; 
and it is still more pernicious in its influence upon the un- 
renewed world. Let a professor move about among them, 
showing himself always under the influence of an artifi- 
cial gravity ; let them rarely see him with the smile of 
innocent cheerfulness, or receive from him the warm 
greeting of a friend ; let him be indifferent in a great 
measure to the ordinary courtesies of life, as if, because 
religion is concerned with more important interests, she, 
of course, lays a cold hand upon all our social enjoyments ; 



145 

and whatever the truth may be in respect to him, he will 
almost inevitably acquire with the world the character of 
a hypocrite ; and they will point to his long face, his 
studied reserve, and his precise gait, as evidence of it. 
It often happens that men of this cast of character are 
exceedingly ready to warn sinners of their danger, and 
urge them to repentance ; but they labor under a disad- 
vantage in two respects 5 — the individuals whom they 
would wish to influence, in consequence of the repulsive- 
ness of their manner, usually take good care to keep out 
of their way ; and even if they gain access to their per- 
sons, they have an iron shield of prejudice to penetrate 
before they can reach their hearts. No doubt men of 
this description often assume this unfortunate manner, 
partly for the purpose that they may, by an appearance 
of greater spirituality, more effectually impress the hearts 
of the unrenewed ; but never was there a greater mis- 
take. It is the very course which is best adapted to de- 
feat the end they wish to accomplish ; and what increases 
the evil is, that they not only close the door of useful- 
ness against themselves, but in many instances at least, 
by the unlovely character which they practically give to 
religion, prevent all hope of good from the efforts of other 
and more judicious christians. 

Make it an object then. Christian, in all your inter- 
course with the world, to let religion appear in her own 
attractive loveliness. Never assume an artificial air of 
austerity ; never say even by a look or an attitude, 'Stand 
by, I am holier than thou ;' never make yourself needless- 
ly offensive in any circle into which you are thrown ; but 
while you take care that your cheerfulness does not de- 
generate into levity, still be cheerful : while you are cau- 

13 



146 

tious that you do not sacrifice christian principle to 'world- 
ly civility, still pay a due respect to the proprieties of so- 
cial intercourse. You are to do this, not only because it 
is right in itself, and is clearly enjoined by the spirit of 
the gospel, but because such a course is essential to your 
highest usefulness. While the general impression "which 
it leaves upon the world is favorable to religion, it will 
constitute a happy preparation for those direct personal 
appeals to the heart and conscience, which every christian 
is bound to make, as he has opportunity, in reference to 
the salvation of his fellow men. 

5. Always appear with dignity and decorum. If this 
is important in the intercourse which christians have with 
each other, as I have already attempted to show, it is still 
more so in the intercourse they have with the world. — 
And yet perhaps there is scarcely a point in respect to 
which the tone of religious character needs to be elevated 
more than this : and they who are constitutionally of a ve- 
ry cheerful and excitable temperament are more exposed 
here than any others. What faithful christian is there, 
whose heart has not bled, at seeing persons whom he is 
accustomed to meet at the communion table, so far for- 
getting the obligations of their profession, as to mingle 
with the world in the spirit of unrestrained levity, if not 
of actual buffoonery ; insomuch that, in some instances, 
they have scarcely kept to the decencies of worldly inter- 
course ? No tongue can describe the evil which every 
such professor brings upon the cause of Christ. If it is 
possible that such an one should ever wish to commune 
with the consciences of unrenewed men in respect to their 
salvation, yet would he dare to do it, when the levity of 
his daily deportment is constantly proclaiming to them 



147 

that he has drank as deeply into the spirit of the world 
as themselves ? 

I am speaking here, it will be recollected, merely of 
the mistakes of christians in their intercourse with world- 
ly men in the common business of life : and sure I am 
that the levity which characterizes this, independently of 
that which is often exhibited in mixed circles, is fraught 
with deep injury. Indeed there are, no doubt, individu- 
als who never mingle at all in the gay scenes of fashionable 
life, who yet, by a habit of inconsiderate jesting and 
trifling in their daily intercourse, accomplish for them- 
selves and others the most serious evil. Beware, pro- 
fessing Christian, that this does not prove to be your own 
ease ; that while you are prevented by scruples of con- 
science, or as the case may be, by want of inclination, 
from ever being found in those scenes of amusement and 
dissipation to which so many are attracted, you do not 
actually incur equal guilt by yielding to the same spirit, 
in a more private, yet perhaps in an habitual, way. 

6. JYever yield to a rash and irritable spirit, I know 
that some persons have greatly the advantage over others 
in respect to the original power of self-control ; but no 
apology can be offered for any one, and especially for any 
christian, who does not keep in subjection his own spirit. 
If you are constituted with an original propensity to be 
rash, and your spirit easily kindles into resentment, how- 
ever momentary, this surely is a reason why you should 
guard this part of your moral nature with double vigi- 
lance ; — why you should subject yourself to a constant 
course of discipline till you have learned the art of keep- 
ing reason always at helm even in the most violent storm 
of provocation. For the injury which a professor of reli- 



148 

gion does to the cause of Christ, by the unrestrained in- 
dulgence of an irritable temper, it may often be beyond 
his power to retrieve. He may go out and weep bitter- 
ly over his unguarded conduct, and may actually have 
the spirit of Peter under the influence of that dissolving 
and recovering look which his Lord gave him ; and may 
have in his own experience abundant evidence that his 
transgression has been forgiven ; and after all he may be 
compelled to reflect that there are evil consequences re- 
sulting from what he has done, which it is utterly im- 
possible for him to arrest. He may have opened the 
mouth of many a scoffer to revile the name of his be- 
loved Master ; he may have inflicted a deep wound upon 
the hearts of many of his brethren in Christ; and the 
cause of Jesus may actually lie bleeding through his in- 
strumentality ; when all that he can do is to acknowledge 
and lament his error, and humble himself before God and 
man, in view of his having committed it. 

If you are naturally of an irritable temperament, and 
yet make no special effort in the way of self-control, you 
will not only be liable under the influence of excited feel- 
ing to make work for bitter repentance, but you will be 
in jeopardy in this respect every hour that you live ; for 
let it once be known that this is your vulnerable point, and 
there will be enough to take advantage of it by assaihng 
you with unkind provocations, that they may triumph in 
your weakness, and rashness, and folly. 

Resolve then that, under all circumstances of provoca- 
tion and insult, you will maintain a proper self command, 
and will never let go for a moment the dignity of the 
christian. Not that you are bound in any case to indulge 
a servile and cringing spirit, or forbidden to protect your 



149 

own rights in a proper manner when they are wantonly 
invaded ; but you are to cultivate the forgiving and for- 
bearing temper of the gospel, and to remember the words 
of the Lord Jesus, when he said, ' Love your enemies, 
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, 
and pray for them which despitefully use you and perse- 
cute you.' 

I put it to you now, Christian, whether, in view of the 
preceding remarks, you can say that your intercourse 
with the world hitherto in the common concerns of life, 
has been such as to secure the honest approbation of your 
conscience ? In your statements have you taken care to 
adhere to the simple verity, never suffering imagination 
to do the office of memory ? Have you been strictly and 
uniformly honest in your dealings ; not only rendering to 
every one his dues in all pecuniary transactions, but in 
every other respect, showing yourself always on the high 
ground of honor and integrity ? Have you been careful 
to cultivate a noble and generous spirit ; making it mani- 
fest every where that you are above a mean action ? — 
Have you avoided an austere and distant manner on the 
one hand, and a vain and undignified manner on the other ? 
Have you disciplined your own spirit, so as not to be 
blown about by every breath of provocation ; and can 
you stand coolly and exercise a forgiving temper, even 
amidst reproaches and insults ? If, with a good conscience, 
you can answer these questions in the affirmative, you 
are certainly in some important particulars, causing your 
light to shine before men. There are indeed other duties 
which you owe to the world which have not here been 
contemplated ; but if, in these respects, you are faithful, 
it is reasonable to hope that your character will be form- 

13* 



150 

ed by an adherence to all the precepts of the gospel. — 
If you are conscious of having been remiss in any, or all, 
of the particulars that have been mentioned, let the future 
find you more conscientious, watchful, and faithful. — 
Thus will you keep yourself in some good degree from 
the guilt of being a stumbling block to your fellow men, 
and will present before them continually a bright and 
living illustration of the power and value of the gospel. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE christian's INTERCOURSE WITH THE WORLD IN 
THE SOCIAL CIRCLE. 

I am not ignorant of the fact that there are many ex- 
cellent people, who, in the strong desire they have felt 
that they might keep themselves unspotted from the 
world, have gone to an extreme of seclusion from mixed 
society, which, while it has served to invest religion itself 
with gloom, has interfered not a little with their own 
general usefulness. The presence of half a dozen indi- 
viduals who were indifferent to religion, in any social cir- 
cle into which they have fallen, has been looked upon at 
once as a signal for alarm ; and whenever any of their 
fellow christians have been found in similar circumstan- 
ces, even though there may not have been the least de- 
parture from rigid propriety in any thing that has been 
said or done, they have been ready to charge them with 
a gross violation of their obligations, and a criminal con- 
formity to the world. 

That this is an error must, I think, be apparent to any 
one who contemplates the design of Providence in giving 
us a social nature, or his arrangement in bringing the 
good and the bad together in the various relations of life, 
or, I may add, the general spirit, or the particular precepts, 
of Christianity. Let this principle once be adopted and 
carried out to its legitimate results, and it is easy to see 



152 

that confusion and discord would triumph, and the fabric 
of society be well nigh subverted. 

There are two objects which may very properly bring 
christians and the world together in a social circle, even 
where it is understood that the meeting is not to be direct- 
ly and chiefly of a religious character. The one is the 
improvement of the intellect. This end may sometimes 
be gained by reading 5 where some instructive and useful 
book is made to minister to the edification of a whole 
circle. Or it may be gained by conversation, either of a 
more general or more particular kind. There may be a 
discussion of some important subject between two indi- 
viduals of the company, to which all the rest shall listen ; 
or else they may all engage in conversation — different 
subjects occupying the attention of different individuals — 
it being always understood that the subject is adapted 
to quicken and improve the faculties. There is one im- 
portant advantage which an animated conversation has, 
in respect to the culture of the mind, above a train of 
private reflection : it is that, in the former case, mind 
sharpens mind ; and the consequence is that bold, and 
brilliant, and useful, thoughts are often struck out by 
means of this contact of intellect, which otherwise would 
not have had an existence ; and besides, who does not 
know that vigorous exercise contributes to the health of 
the intellectual, as truly as of the bodily, system ? Sure- 
ly then there can be no objection, if the culture of the 
intellect be an object of importance, as no one will ques- 
tion, to the mingling of professors of religion with those 
who are not, with reference to this end ; provided al- 
ways there be nothing in their intercourse unfriendly to 
the interests of practical piety. 



153 

The other object to which I referred is the culture of 
the social affections. That this is a legitimate object 
may be fairly inferred from the fact that these affections 
belong essentially to our nature ; and it were unreasona- 
ble to suppose that Providence should have constituted 
us with them, if he had not designed that, in common 
with every other original endowment, they should be sub- 
jected to a proper cultivation. Besides, who does not 
see that they are designed to answer most important 
purposes in our constitution, and that their legitimate ex- 
ercise is connected with a large part both of our happi- 
ness and usefulness ? If any one should say that, though 
it is doubtless proper that the social affections should be 
cultivated, yet christians should do this by mingling 
exclusively with each other ; I would ask him for his 
warrant for this, either in the genius of Christianity, or in 
any of its particular precepts, or in the indications of 
Providence as they are developed in the constitution of 
human society ? They are indeed bound to take heed 
that, in their intercourse with the world, they do not cul- 
tivate the social affections, at the expense of obscuring 
their christian graces ; but if they do the former and 
avoid the latter, who will say that nothing of good has 
been accomplished ? 

Let no one say that the objects I have mentioned are 
insufficient to justify the christian in meeting in the so- 
cial circle those who make no pretensions to religion, in- 
asmuch as they seem to look chiefly or entirely to the in- 
terests of this present world. For this world, let it be 
remembered, has its importance ; and there is nothing in 
rehgion which requires that it should be overlooked. 
Certainly it is not the chief concern ; — so far from it that, 



154 

when brought into comparison with a future and eternal 
state, it dwindles to insignificance : but after all, he who 
placed us in it designed that it should occupy a share of 
our attention ; and we all recognise this fact in the com- 
mon concerns of life. With just as much propriety 
might it be urged that christians ought to have nothing 
to do with worldly men in their efforts to procure their 
daily bread, on the ground that this object is not to be 
brought into comparison with the salvation of the soul, 
as that the former should never mingle with the latter in 
a social circle, because the culture of the intellectual pow- 
ers and social feelings is incomparably less important than 
that '^ holiness, without which no man can see the 
Lord." 

But because the objects which christians propose in 
this intercourse with the world relate immediately to the 
life that now is, it by no means follows that they do not 
have an ultimate and highly important reference to that 
which is to come. Be it so that the faculties are em- 
ployed, on such occasions, in investigating the great prin- 
ciples of science, or on other subjects of mere secular 
import ; yet who will say that the vigor which may 
thereby be imparted to the intellect both of the christian 
and the man of the world, may not be rendered subservi- 
ent to the great interests of Christ's kingdom ? Admit 
that the knowledge which has been communicated and 
received, has had respect to nothing more important than 
the progress of intellectual light, or the means of ad- 
vancing the cause of education ; — yet is it not reasonable 
to suppose that this may be rendered tributary, in many 
ways, to extending the influence of the gospel ? And 
suppose no higher feeling brought into exercise, on the 



155 

part of those who are unrenewed, than that of kindness 
and good will towards the professors of religion with 
whom they associate ; provided the latter do not, in any 
way, dishonor their christian profession, who can say 
that they may not accomplish incalculable good by pre- 
paring the way for a direct approach to the conscience on 
the most momentous of all subjects ? Rely on it, the 
christian who has the greatest advantage in bringing home 
the subject of personal religion to the heart of an unre- 
newed sinner, is not he whom that individual never sees 
except in the discharge of his more spiritual duties ; but 
it is the man who meets him freely in other circumstan- 
ces, and converses with him on topics of general interest, 
and thus wins his confidence, and predisposes him to lend 
an ear to serious counsels and admonitions. I can ima- 
gine that a professor of religion may meet a careless 
friend in a social circle, and not a word pass between 
them in respect to the grand concerns of eternity ; and 
yet the interview may have a most important connexion 
with that sinner's final salvation ; for it may be the means 
of preparing the way for other conversations in which di- 
vine truth shall be brought home to the conscience, not 
only with convincing but sanctifying efficacy. 

In the case to which I now refer, that is, where those 
who profess religion, and those who do not, are met for 
purposes of general intercourse, I do not suppose that 
direct religious conversation should, under all circumstan- 
ces, be attempted ; and it were especially ill-judged for 
any professor to address an individual on the subject of 
his salvation abruptly, and with so loud a voice as to be 
heard, and intentionally heard, by the rest of the com- 
pany. I have known several cases of this, but never 



156 

knew one which resulted favorably. Nevertheless, in- 
stances frequently occur in which the kind of intercourse 
of which I am speaking, furnishes a good opportunity 
for dropping a word of christian counsel on the ear of an 
irreligious friend, and even of pressing his conscience 
with the most awakening considerations. I knew a case, 
not long ago, in which a clergyman was introduced, in a 
large circle, to a young lady whose condition in life was ex- 
tremely unfavorable to every thing like serious reflection ; 
and yet he happened to know that she was not a stranger 
to it. After conversing with her, a few moments, on 
general topics, he introduced, with great delicacy and 
good judgment, the subject of religion ; and instead of 
being shocked or disgusted, she was gratified beyond mea- 
sure ; and there is reason to hope that that brief inter- 
view may have been blessed to her eternal salvation. 
There was nothing occurring around them which ren- 
dered such conversation, in any degree, incongruous ; for 
though there was the cheerfulness of a well regulated 
social intercourse, there was nothing of unhallowed or 
undignified levity. Professing christians then need not 
despair of making this general intercourse with the world 
directly subservient to the purposes of religion. Let 
them take advantage of suitable opportunities, on the one 
hand, and not imagine that there are opportunities when 
there are not, on the other, and they may hope frequent- 
ly to reach the heart with instructions and counsels, which 
may be of lasting spiritual advantage. 

But while the christian may very properly associate 
with the world in the manner, and for the purposes, I 
have mentioned, and with the hope of being positively 
useful, there are social scenes sometimes unhappily con- 



157 

founded with those just referred to, in which it is scarce- 
ly possible for him to mingle, without putting in jeopardy 
not his own character and comfort only, but the best in- 
terests of religion. I refer to those scenes which are de- 
signed merely as an exhibition of the pride of life ; in 
which, though there may be nothing positively immoral, 
in the common acceptation of the word, yet there is 
nothing to benefit the understanding or the heart; — 
scenes of vapid conversation, and ostentatious parade, and 
thoughtless gaiety, and foolish amusement ; in which those 
who are averse to all serious reflection, expect to find, 
and actually do find, all the means of killing time made 
ready at their hands. I do not mean that, in such a scene 
as that to which I now refer, every individual who is 
present is of course an equal sharer in the levity and fol- 
ly by which it is marked : on the contrary, it is very sup- 
posable that there may be those who are not interested in 
it at all, and whose conduct is, in every respect, dis- 
creet and decorous ; — I only mean that the controlling in- 
fluence is such as I have described. Notwithstanding 
the few whose deportment may be marked by nothing 
exceptionable, the spirit of levity still predominates ; and 
while the serious christian, if perchance he has been 
there, has found himself in an atmosphere which he 
could not breathe with freedom, the mere child of thought- 
lessness and folly has felt that he was in the very element 
in which his soul most delighted. 

Let it not be supposed that the evil of which I speak 
depends entirely on the number who are brought together. 
Other things being equal, there is certainly a greater pro- 
bability of irregularity and excess in a large circle than 
in a small one 5 because the exciting influences are likely 

14 



158 

to be more powerful with the many than the few ; and 
besides, the sense of responsibility is apt to diminish, as 
the number of those who share it increases. At the same 
time, it does not necessarily follow from the fact that a 
large number are assembled, that there should be any 
thing in which a christian may not very consistently par- 
ticipate ; nor, on the other hand, can it be fairly inferred 
from the fact that there are but few, that there will not 
be gross violations of christian propriety and even ordina- 
ry decorum. I have known instances in which a large 
and somewhat promiscuous collection have passed an 
evening in edifying conversation, and without any in- 
fringement of the strictest proprieties of life, and, before 
they separated, have unitedly supplicated the blessing of 
God on their intercourse ; and I have known other cases 
in which but half a dozen, or even a smaller number, 
have been together, and so vain and foolish have been the 
conversation and amusements, that no christian could 
have joined in them, but at an expense both of conscience 
and character. I repeat then, though the number to be 
brought together is certainly an important consideration, 
in estimating the probability of evil connected with such 
an occasion, yet it is by no means the only consideration ; 
and it ought always to be looked at in connexion with 
other things — particularly with the prevailing character 
of those who are to constitute the assemblage. It is rea- 
sonable to presume that persons who are known to be 
lovers of pleasure, especially if they are assembled in 
considerable numbers, and constitute the majority in the 
circle, will break through no small restraints, if need 
be, to indulge their ruling passion ; and hence it is that 
an individual who gives out an invitation which em- 



159 

braces a large number of the votaries of gaiety, puts it 
in a great measure out of his power to give such a com- 
plexion to the occasion as he might desire ; for while the 
majority would practically assert their claim to rule, he 
would be prevented by courtesy from protesting against 
any thing which was not grossly offensive. But if the 
greater number are persons who would be inclined to edi- 
fying and profitable conversation, it may reasonably be 
expected that the controlling influence will be of a use- 
ful kind ; and the presumption is that nothing will occur, 
which a christian need hesitate by his presence to sanc- 
tion. 

As this subject is one of practical interest with most 
professors, especially in the higher walks of life, and as 
it is confessedly exceedingly difficult, in many cases, to 
ascertain the path of duty in regard to it, I will here sug- 
gest two or three considerations with a view to aid chris- 
tians in respect to this important matter. 

In the first place then, inquire of your own conscience, 
in respect to any particular scene of social enjoyment to 
which you are invited, whether , by mingling in it^ you will 
be likely^ on the whole, to bo any good ? Have you reason to 
believe that your presence there will leave an impression 
favorable to the religion you profess ? Can you reasonably 
expect that there will be any opportunity, either directly 
or indirectly, to bear testimony to the excellence of the 
gospel ? Or can you expect that your intercourse with 
those who are indifferent to religion, in the circumstances 
in which you will be placed, will subsequently render 
your access to them more easy, when you would ap- 
proach them on the subject of their soul's salvation ? Or 
can you hope to impart any thing that is really useful ; 



160 

or to secure any influence which you may be able after- 
wards to turn to a good account ? Or, on the other hand, 
do you honestly believe that you will be placed in a situ- 
ation in which you can do nothing for the benefit of those 
with whom you mingle ; that your presence will encou- 
rage them in that which is in itself wrong, and which 
probably constitutes the chief obstacle to their salvation ? 
And do you believe that meeting them in these circum- 
stances will rather embarrass than assist you, in any sub- 
sequent effort you may choose to make, to impress them 
with the obligations of religion ? Or if you have rea- 
son to hope that you might do some good, have you not 
reason to fear that you might do more harm, so that, on 
the whole, your presence would be of evil tendency ? If 
these latter questions must be answered in the affirmative, 
I need not say that your duty is plain. You have no 
right even to let your good be evil spoken of : much less 
have you a right to do that which is in itself evil, and 
which you honestly believe must result in injury to your 
fellow creatures. 

You may inquire again, whether you will he likely to 
GET any good ? Will the legitimate purpose of amuse- 
ment be answered, by refreshing your exhausted faculties, 
and preparing them for more vigorous effort ; or will 
there be a dissipation, of thought, not to say a weariness 
of body, induced, which will prepare you for at least one 
day of lassitude and inaction ? Will you be likely to 
gain any knowledge which will aid you in the prosecu- 
tion of any good object, or improve and elevate your in- 
tellectual character ? Or will the current probably set so 
strongly in favor of the vanities and fripperies of life, 
that you will hear little or nothing which you would 



161 

wish to remember ? Can you with any reason expect 
that there will be any thing to awaken a spirit of devo- 
tion, and impress you more deeply with eternal realities ; 
or is it reasonable to conclude that what you would wit- 
ness would relax your spiritual sensibility, and unfit you 
for the duty of prayer, and possibly lay the foundation of 
a habit of wretched conformity to the world ? Here 
again, I am sure, you may very properly be guided by 
the answer which an enlightened conscience gives to these 
questions. 

But inquire farther, whether the scene in which you are 
invited to mingle is likely to be one on which you can ask 
the blessing of Godl With the expectation which you 
are obliged to form in regard to it, dare you go into your 
closet and ask God to bless your attendance there not on- 
ly to yourself but to others ? And do you really believe 
that after it is over, you shall be able to return to your 
closet, and supplicate God to follow it with his blessing ? 
If you feel that there would be something incongruous 
in this, it is an evidence that your conscience is not clear 
in respect to it : of course it is manifestly your duty to 
decline. Christians are required to acknowledge God in 
all their ways ; and if there be any thing proposed to 
them, in regard to which they cannot conscientiously ac- 
knowledge him by supplicating his favor, it must be at 
their peril that they engage in it. 

And finally, ask yourself what decision on the subject 
will be likely to yield you most satisfaction in review on 
the bed of death ? Will it seem better to you then that 
these hours had been spent in the social circle to which 
you are solicited, or in your closet, or in your family, or 
in carrying blessings to the wretched and destitute } If 

14* 



162 

the occasion be in itself such as to justify your attendance, 
you need not anticipate a painful review of it in your 
last hour ; but if you feel now that you would greatly 
prefer that it should not come into remembrance then, it 
is manifest that you cannot yield, but at the expense of 
doing violence to your own conscience. On the bed of 
death there will probably be so much light from eterni- 
ty let in upon your soul, that you will see things as they 
are, and estimate them in some degree as they do who 
have passed within the vail. I say again, send this ques- 
tion forward for decision to your dying bed ; and you 
need have no fear but that the answer which comes back 
to you, will be approved by your eternal Judge. 

But I am aware there is a difficulty which lies beyond 
that I have been considering : you may easily enough 
form general rules for the regulation of your conduct in 
this respect, and yet it may be no easy matter to apply 
them to all particular cases : you may satisfy yourself 
how far you can go in consistency with a good conscience 
and a christian profession, and yet you may be unable to 
determine whether the particular scene in which you are 
invited to mingle, will come within the limits which your 
own sense of duty has prescribed. In many cases in- 
deed you can have no doubt ; for every circumstance 
shows that, as a christian, you have no right to be there. 
But in many other cases you may very reasonably hesi- 
tate in respect to the path of duty ; and it may aid you 
to a right decision to consider the character of the per- 
son from whom the invitation comes ; for whether he is 
devoted to the pleasures of this world or the higher in- 
terests of another, it is reasonable to expect that he has 
made arrangements for passing the evening in a manner 



163 

somewhat in keeping with his own prevailing propensities. 
And then again, you may be assisted still farther in deter- 
mining your duty by considering, if it happens to be known 
to you, the number and character of the invited guests ; 
for you may rest assured that, while persons of sobriety 
and reflection may be expected to act in character on 
such an occasion, there cannot be a large collection of 
the gay and thoughtless, but that there will be much in 
which the consistent christian will feel no desire to parti- 
cipate. 

In all ordinary cases in which you are not tolerably sa- 
tisfied that every thing will be conducted with decorum, 
and to some useful end, no doubt your duty requires that 
you should decline the invitation. But in all cases in 
which you accept an invitation, you are to go with a deep 
sense of your responsibility and your danger, and in hum- 
ble dependance on the influence of God's grace to enable 
you to honor and recommend the religion you profess. 

If there be any case in which a professor of religion 
could be justified in departing from the general rule laid 
down in this chapter, so far as to resort occasionally to 
places in which the gaieties of the world are suffered to 
triumph, I should say it was that of an individual who 
was travelling with a view to make minute observations 
on the manners and habits of the people, which he might 
turn to some useful account. But even in this case, he 
should beware that his spirituality does not decline under 
a worldly influence. If I mistake not, the history of ma- 
ny professors of religion, and even ministers of the gos- 
pel, who have travelled for a considerable time in foreign 
countries, and especially on the continent of Europe, fur- 
nishes a striking illustration of the importance of this 



164 

caution. Let every one who is placed in such circum- 
stances use the utmost vigilance and care that he keep 
himself unspotted from the world. Let him take heed 
lest the unchristian practices which he allows himself to 
witness, should appear less odious, in proportion as they 
become familiar ; and thus, in the effort which he makes 
to acquire a more extended knowledge of the world, he 
should sacrifice that which is of far greater importance — 
a deep religious sensibility, and a faithful adherence to 
all the duties of the christian life. 



CHAPTER III. 

I 

CONSIDERATIONS PROHIBITING THE CHRISTIAN FROM 
THE GAIETIES OF THE WORLD. 

I have endeavored in the preceding chapter to discrimi- 
nate as accurately as I could, between that intercourse 
with the world in the social circle which a christian may 
consistently maintain, and that which is prohibited by his 
profession and obligations. I am aware, however, that 
there is here great room for the exercise of wisdom in 
the application of the right general principles ; and that 
many who are professedly right in theory, are exceeding- 
ly wrong in practice. And it cannot be concealed that 
there are many others belonging to the church, who seem 
to have no rule on the subject, other than to avail them- 
selves of every opportunity that presents itself, to plunge 
into the gaieties of fashionable life. In the former case, 
the evil is to be referred principally to the want of due 
decision ; in the latter, there is reason to fear that it has 
its origin in a heart that is really in love with the vani- 
ties of the world, and has never been disciplined to the 
self denial of the gospel. It cannot, therefore, I think, 
be a matter of question with any one who is conversant 
with facts on this subject, whether there is not good rea- 
son for admonishing the church in general against the evil 
which is here contemplated. 



166 

Let me request, however, that it may be distinctly 
borne in mind, that I am not proscribing every thing that 
may happen to go under the name of a party ^ but only 
such parties as have been described in the preceding chap- 
ter, as of unprofitable and injurious tendency. And that 
I may be sure of being understood, I will say again, that 
I mean those which, however free they may be from the 
grossness of open vice, are yet designed chiefly to furnish 
an opportunity for a vain show, and an appropriate ele- 
ment for mirth and gaiety ; — scenes in which it is under- 
stood that the spirit of worldly levity is to have the pre- 
dominant influence, and in which a christian cannot min- 
gle without laying aside his religious character, on the one 
hand, or exhibiting a spirit which is felt to be most inap- 
propriate to the occasion, on the other. No doubt there 
will be a difference of opinion among professors in re- 
spect to the question, to what particular occasions these 
remarks are applicable: my own conviction is, that they 
apply to very many of the mixed circles in what is com- 
monly called fashionable life ; though I would have eve- 
ry professing christian decide the point for himself, only 
keeping in view the fact that his decision is to control 
him in a most important part of his conduct. 

I will endeavor, under several particulars, to illustrate 
the EVIL which is likely to result from a christian's min- 
gling in the gay scenes of the fashionable world ; or in 
any social circle in which thoughtlessness and levity are 
to have the controlling influence. My remarks will ap- 
ply indiscriminately to the professor who gives the invi- 
tation, and to the one who accepts it. 



167 

In general I would say that the evil of such a course 
consists in its tendency to injure the cause of 
Christ. More particularly, 

I. It injures the individual who adopts it. 

1. Admitting that he is a true christian, it obscures his 
evidences. The evidence of one's piety is to be derived 
from a careful inspection of one's own heart and life. — 
Of course there can be no real evidence of that which 
does not exist ; though there may be, and often is, that 
which is mistaken for evidence : if, therefore, an individu- 
al has but a small amount of piety ; if the growth of his 
christian affections is, in a great measure, choked by the 
influence of the world, it is impossible that he should have, 
in his own experience, any testimony to a high degree of 
sanctification. And besides, just in proportion to his de- 
cline in spirituality, the evidence of his having any piety 
at all becomes equivocal ; for the existence of a principle 
of spiritual life is to be known only by its operations ; 
and where those operations are extremely feeble and ir- 
regular, it is difficult to distinguish them from the exer- 
cise of other principles, which belong essentially to hu- 
man nature. An individual may have the grace of God 
in his heart, and yet it may be like a grain of mustard 
seed ; and it may be sadly checked in' its growth by the 
prevalence of a worldly spirit ; but if he will gain a clear 
and satisfying evidence that he possesses it, he must cul- 
tivate it by all the means in his power, and be able to see 
the fruit of it in a life according to godliness. 

Now I am sure that every one who reflects a moment, 
must be satisfied that no individual can accustom himself 
to mingle in the gaieties of the world, and yet retain that 
high degree of spirituality which is essential even to a 



168 

tolerably satisfactory evidence of christian character. — 
That a professor should have a relish for such scenes, is 
proof that his tone of religious feeling is low ; and by in- 
dulging the propensity, the habit of serious reflection of 
course becomes weakened, the spirit of devotion gradu- 
ally declines, and as the world gains the ascendancy in 
the heart, all the more spiritual duties of the christian life 
become a weariness. I appeal to the conscience of any 
professing christian who has had experience on this sub- 
ject, and especially of any one who has been reclaimed 
from his wanderings, whether he has not found that, just 
in proportion as a passion for the gaieties of life has pre- 
vailed in his heart, the spirit of christian devotedness has 
been driven away ; and whether he does not refer the in- 
creased vigor of his piety, and the brighter light and 
stronger hope which attend it, in a great measure to the 
fact that he has resisted and crucified this worldly pro- 
pensity ? 

2. It diminishes his comfort. This is evident from the 
remarks under the preceding article ; for, as a general rule, 
it may be expected that the amount of religious comfort 
which a christian enjoys, will be somewhat in proportion 
to the amount of piety which he possesses ; and it is de- 
rived in no small degree from contemplating the evidence, 
and indulging the hope, that his name is in the book of 
life. Of course then, just in proportion as this evi- 
dence and this hope become feeble — in other words, in the 
same degree that the spirit of piety languishes in the 
heart, his comfort declines ; and this is true not only of 
the enjoyment he derives from immediately contempla- 
ting the evidences of his christian character, but from the 
exercise of the various christian graces ; for the vigor or 



169 

the languor by which they are characterized will decide 
the amount of peace and joy by which they will be at- 
tended. If it be true then, as I have attempted to show, 
that the course of which I am speaking has a direct ten- 
dency to spiritual declension, of course it contributes in 
the same degree to the diminution of spiritual enjoy- 
ment. 

But it tends to the same result in another way ; — ^by 
arming the christian's own conscience against him. I do 
not say that a professor may not wander, and wander 
grievously in this respect, under the influence of an un- 
enlightened conscience, or from not having given the sub- 
ject suitable reflection ; and in this case he may be tole- 
rably free from compunction. And then again, I am well 
aware that it is possible for one to have violated the dic- 
tates of his conscience in this way so habitually, and for 
so long a time, that he may have gained a complete vic- 
tory over it ; and what once made him pause and well 
nigh shudder, he may be able now to resolve upon with- 
out a sentiment of remorse. But these two cases ex- 
cepted, (and what conscientious christian would not shud- 
der to be an example of either of them ?) — -I cannot con- 
ceive that any professor of religion can sanction by his 
presence the gaieties of the world, and escape all rebuke 
from the monitor within. He surely cannot reflect on 
what he is doing — whether he regards its influence on 
himself or on others — without a conviction that it is 
wrong ; and in proportion to his moral sensibility will be 
the anxiety and pain which this conviction will bring with 
it. I know from the testimony of more than one who 
has had experience on this subject, that the very hours 

which have been devoted to social merriment, have some- 

15 



170 

times been embittered by a deep sense of guilt ; while 
there has been that in the remembrance of them in con- 
nexion with the silent communings of the soul with it- 
self, which would bite like a serpent and sting like an ad- 
der. 

3. It inflicts a wound upon his character. That it 
does this in the view of his fellow christians who keep 
themselves in a good degree unspotted from the world, 
no one can doubt ; for there is every thing in their pro- 
fession , and experience, and hopes, to lead them to re- 
gard with special favor a high tone of christian feeling and 
action in others ; and to estimate the merits of a profess- 
or by the spirituality and exemplariness of his life. But 
this remark holds true of the world, as well as the church. 
I acknowledge indeed that the votaries of fashionable fol- 
ly are always glad to see the professed christian coming 
to mingle with them ; and they will sometimes take pains 
to show him how much they honor his independence and 
freedom from vulgar prejudices ; but I know that these 
same persons, when his back is turned, will not unfre- 
quently triumph in his inconsistency; and when their con- 
sciences are pressed with the obligations of religion, they 
will even appeal to his conduct as proof that religion does 
not make men the better. The truth is that worldly 
men have an understanding and a conscience, and they 
know the right and the wrong of this whole matter ; and 
that professor who thinks to mingle freely in the world's 
gaieties, and have it unobserved, cheats no one but him- 
self. Were I at liberty, I could write a chapter of facts 
in illustration of this point, which would show most con- 
clusively that every member of the church who places 
himself in such circumstances is marked ; and though no 



171 

murmur of disapprobation may ever reach his ear, yet the 
secret feeling of all around him is that he is out of his 
proper place, and is forfeiting his consistency as a chris- 
tian. 

4. It impairs his usefulness ; and that in various ways. 

It occupies time which might be, and ought to be, de- 
voted to useful purposes. It is true indeed that the chris- 
tian, in common with others, requires amusement ; it is 
impossible that his mind should always be occupied in 
the same direction ; and it is not less his privilege than 
his duty, occasionally to unbend from the severer labors 
of his stated employment : but the purpose of amuse- 
ment may be answered, to a great extent, by a mere 
change of occupation ; and the christian may still be do- 
ing good, though he is doing it in a different way. The 
least that can consist with his obligation, is, that that 
which he resorts to as an amusement, should actually have 
the effect of preparing his mind or body for more vigor- 
ous effort in his accustomed calling. But in the case to 
which I refer, even this end is not accomplished ; on the 
contrary, there is usually an increased exhaustion, and a 
diminution of immediate ability to labor for useful pur- 
poses ; so that the time which is spent, is not only lost, 
but worse than lost. And what christian will say that he 
is at liberty to let any portion of his time run to waste ; 
or that he is not bound to fill up every hour in a way 
which will, either directly or indirectly, bring glory to God 
and benefit to his fellow me i ? 

But there is an expense of money as well as time inci- 
dent to this course of which I am speaking, by which the 
christian abridges his means of usefulness. If he is in 
the habit of accepting invitations to splendid parties, where 



172 

every thing is skilfully arranged for the excessive indul- 
gence of the lighter passions, it becomes almost a matter 
of course, unless his condition in life actually forbids it, 
that he should give invitations in return ; and the expen- 
diture which is hereby incurred in a single instance, might 
be sufficient, if it were differently applied, to accomplish 
some object of great private or public utility. I beheve 
it is not uncommon for professors of religion to expend 
on a single occasion of social festivity, more than would 
suffice to sustain a missionary in the field for a whole 
year, or to scatter many hundred copies of the bible 
among the ignorant and perishing. But even admitting 
that he does nothing more than accept invitations, he still 
sanctions by his presence the wasting of his Lord's goods ; 
— a perversion of the bounties of providence to purposes 
worse than useless, when there are innumerable cases both 
of temporal and spiritual wretchedness which they might 
help to relieve. 

There is also a diminished capacity for doing good in 
another respect ; — the feelings which prompt to benevo- 
lent action become, in a great measure, chilled, and some- 
times there is, for a season at least, an apathy that bor- 
ders upon aversion. This effect may be either general or 
particular. It is general, when the tone of spiritual feel- 
ing declines, and the mind perceptibly loses its interest in 
invisible things, and as a natural consequence, finds itself 
little disposed to wake to the appropriate duties of the re- 
ligious life, and especially to the great duty of doing good 
to others ; for, as a general rule, the tone of genuine chris- 
tian feeling will regulate the amount of benevolent ac- 
tion. It is particular, when the christian by intellectual 
dissipation, or bodily exhaustion, or the indulgence of a 



173 

light and inconsiderate spirit, unfits himself for the dis- 
charge of the duties which immediately devolve upon 
him. Is there not many a professor who can testify that, 
after having retired from a scene of gaiety, he has found 
himself utterly incapable of communion with God either 
in the family or the closet ; and that his thoughts have 
been upon the vanities of the world, even while the lan- 
guage of devotion has been upon his lips ? 

Moreover, the christian lessens his usefulness, inas- 
much as he puts it out of his power, to a great extent, 
even if he should desire it, to benefit in a spiritual way, 
by direct efibrts, his thoughtless friends with whom he 
allows himself thus to associate. There is indeed little 
reason to expect that he will ever make the attempt ; for 
even if he were to form the purpose, one would suppose 
that the consciousness of his inconsistency would seal his 
lips : but suppose he actually should summon the cou- 
rage necessary to urge to reflection and repentance some 
irreligious friend, who had witnessed the levity of his own 
conduct — at any rate who had seen him in a circle of un- 
restrained gaiety, where even an allusion to a serious sub- 
ject would have given offence, — and who can believe that 
any thing he should say would be likely to find its way 
to the heart ? Would not that careless friend in all pro- 
bability dispose of his counsels and admonitions, by call- 
ing to mind what he had seen of him on other occasions, 
reflecting that actions have a meaning as truly as words ; 
and would he not be likely to think more of the inconsis- 
tency of christians than of the importance of christiani- 

ty? 

II. The professing christian who adopts this course, 
does an injury to his fellow christians. 

15^ 



174 

Supposing that they are not like himself miserably con- 
formed to the world, it cannot otherwise be than that he 
must deeply wound their feelings. Though they look 
upon him as a wandering brother, yet they regard him 
as a brother still ; and they are grieved that he should 
thus sacrifice his comfort, and make shipwreck of his ob- 
ligations. They are grieved that the hopes which they 
had formed in respect to his usefulness are not likely tp 
be realized ; that, instead of their being permitted to ap- 
peal to his example as illustrating the efficacy and excel- 
lence of the gospel, the world are appealing to it as evi- 
dence that christians are no better than others. And it 
pains them to contemplate the evidence which his conduct 
furnishes that he may not improbably be indulging the hope 
of the hypocrite ; that that course of backsliding which 
has begun in this species of conformity to the world, may 
terminate in open apostacy, not only from the spirituali- 
ty of a christian life, but from the decency of a christian 
profession. And more than all, their heart sinks within 
them at the thought that the Saviour should be thus dis- 
honored in the house of his friends ; that his cause should 
bleed through the instrumentality of those who profess to 
have been bought with his blood, and to have devoted 
themselves to his service. Who has not seen the young 
professor, within a little period after he has solemnly 
pledged himself before God and man to be a fellow help- 
er with the members of the church to which he joins him- 
self, rushing into the gaieties of the world, and thus prac- 
tically treating these obligations as if they were a farce ? 
And what faithful christian that has looked upon such a 
defection, but has been ready almost to wish that his eyes 
were a fountain of tears, that he might weep day and 



175 

night over the dishonor and injury done to his beloved 
Lord ? 

But this course of which I am speaking has not only a 
tendency to wound, but to dishearten, the faithful follow- 
ers of Christ. For how can it be otherwise ? When 
they see those whom they confidently expected to be 
their coadjutors in every good work, turning away, as 
the case may be, from the circle of prayer to the house 
of mirth, and have evidence the most painfully conclu- 
sive that their own good influence is in a great degree 
counteracted by this conformity to the w^orld, how natu- 
ral is it that their resolution should falter, and their spirits 
sink, in view of this unexpected impediment to their use- 
fulness ! It is not a mere negative influence that is ex- 
erted upon them ; but they are positively, and often great- 
ly, disheartened ; and though they may feel deeply the 
importance that something efficient should be done to 
promote the interests of religion around them, or, as the 
case may be, for extending the kingdom of Christ in other 
lands, they will, in many instances, scarcely feel able to 
rise up to the work under such a pressure as their fellow 
professors hereby impose upon them. No doubt, if we 
knew the whole truth on this subject, we should find 
that many a revival of religion has been arrested at its 
very commencement, and many a promising enterprise 
for extending the gospel has been abandoned, from the 
check which has been prematurely given to the christian 
activity of the church, through the disheartening influ- 
ence of the conduct of some of its members. 

And there is a greater evil than either of those alrea- 
dy mentioned, which often follows in the train of this 
species of lax conduct on the part of professors. Though 



176 

the first effect, in regard to some who are associated with 
them in the church, may be that their christian sensibili- 
ty is wounded, or their resolution damped, yet, in the 
case of these very persons, a more remote effect may be, 
that their spirituality may yield to the influence of bad 
example, and they may actually fall into the very course 
which they once heartily deprecated. If we knew the 
whole secret why so many professors of religion sink their 
religious character in a habit of conformity to the world, 
no doubt we should find that one principal reason is that 
they are kept in countenance by each other ; and that 
they even meet the accusations of their own consciences, 
with the reflection that they are sustained by the exam- 
ple of those who have come under the same solemn obli- 
gations to a holy life with themselves. Instances fre- 
quently occur in which individuals, who set out in a 
christian profession with the most correct and even rigid 
notions on this subject, by observing the lax conduct of 
those who are fellow communicants with them in the 
church, and have promised to be fellow helpers with them 
unto the kingdom, in a little while strangely get rid of 
all their scruples, and are added to the melancholy list of 
examples, which no christian who is jealous for his Mas- 
ter's honor would be willing to imitate. 

It is hardly necessary to add in connexion with the 
preceding remarks, that just in proportion as professors 
of religion allow themselves to mingle in the gaieties of 
the world, they lower the standard of christian character. 
It will always be found, where this evil prevails exten- 
sively in a church, that, though there may be many indi- 
viduals who walk humbly with God and let their light 
shine, yet the prevailing spirit will be a spirit of worldli- 



177 

ness ; the tone of religious feeling and action will be low ; 
there will be comparatively little communion among the 
professed followers of Christ, and little in their daily de- 
portment to distinguish them from the world. There is 
scarcely any thing with which the general prosperity of 
rehgion in a community is so intimately connected, as an 
elevated standard of christian character. To say nothing 
here of its influence upon the world, its tendency is to 
do great good to the church ; for while it affords rich en- 
couragement to those members who are not disposed to 
be weary in well-doing, it furnishes a standing rebuke to 
any who may be inclined to spiritual apathy or a careless 
deportment, and secures to all the advantages of living 
under the benign influence of a holy example. 

III. By mingling in the gaieties of life, the professor 
of religion does an injury to the vain and irreligious 
with whom he thus associates. 

One way in which he accomplishes this, is by awaken- 
ing in their minds a vague suspicion concerning the reali- 
ty of religion. Every one perceives, on a moment's re- 
flection, that it is most unreasonable to identify Christiani- 
ty with the character of its lax professors ; thus virtually 
making the gospel responsible for those very things which 
it peremptorily forbids. But so unjustly are the multi- 
tude disposed to deal with Christianity, and so eager are 
they to find apologies for resisting the claims of religion, 
that it is no uncommon thing to hear individuals soberly 
urge the mistakes and errors of christians, and especially 
in this particular department of their conduct, as a justi- 
fication of their own continued impenitence ; and no 
doubt the thought rises in many a breast, where it never 
escapes the lips, that there cannot be much hazard in let- 



178 

ting religion alone, if to be religious can consist with all 
that appears in the conduct of some of its professors. 
True the careless sinner who reasons in this way has a 
personal responsibility in this matter ; and if he perse- 
vere, he must take the fearful consequence of it in the 
everlasting ruin of his own soul : but what profess- 
ing christian would deliberately become the occasion 
of his falling into this mad delusion, and incurring such 
a tremendous evil ? Let there be even a lurking senti- 
ment in the breast of the unrenewed sinner that religion 
after all may turn out to be a fable, and there is not the 
most distant hope, so long as this state of mind continues, 
that he will practically embrace it ; for '' he that cometh 
to God must believe that he is, and that he is a re- 
warder of them that diligently seek him." Remember, 
then, professing Christian, if you are instrumental in any 
way, of imbuing the mind of a careless sinner with a 
spirit of scepticism in ever so small a degree, you there- 
by oppose a formidable barrier to his salvation. He may 
indeed have an unwavering speculative conviction of the 
truth of religion, and yet never embrace it ; but so long 
as he doubts in respect to its truth, it were absurd to sup- 
pose that he should become a practical disciple. 

But this conduct tends to the same result still far- 
ther, inasmuch as it arms the careless world with a 
weapon by which to ward off the blows which are aim- 
ed at their consciences. The result of any appeal that is 
made to the conscience of a sinner, depends, under God, 
upon the state of mind in which it happens to find him ; 
for if his understanding be stored with truth, and his con- 
science be sensitive and wakeful, there is good reason to 
hope that his duty may not be urged upon him in vain ; 



I 



179 

but if his mind be blinded, and his moral sensibility im- 
paired, by prejudice and error, and especially if he have 
fortified himself against every effort to arouse and con- 
vince him, by objections which he has taken up against 
religion, (no matter how he may have come by them) 
there is little reason to expect any good effect even from 
the most faithful and honest dealing. Suppose then that 
an individual who is careless of religion, and has been ac- 
customed to meet professing christians amidst scenes of 
gaiety, and to use this fact in his own reflections, as ma- 
ny do, to the discredit of Christianity — suppose he were 
to be addressed by some christian friend on the subject of 
his salvation; or suppose some fervent appeal should 
reach him in the house of God, or that serious thoughts 
should come unbidden into his mind in the hours of soli- 
tude — how very probable is it that, in either of these ca- 
ses, he would stifle the inward monitor by the aid of a 
lurking and perhaps unacknowledged scepticism ! Say 
you that there is no harm in what you are doing, when 
you go to mingle with the vain and the gay in their own 
appropriate pleasures ? But is there no harm in furnish- 
ing them with an apology for putting off the claims of re- 
ligion ? Is there no harm in supplying them with wea- 
pons by which to oppose the Spirit of God ? Is there 
no harm in increasing their facilities for self destruction ? 
Is it not manifest also that, where professors of reli- 
gion lend the influence of their example to the gaieties of 
life, their conduct serves to injure their careless associates 
by confirming them in that particular habit of sinful in- 
dulgence in which the strength of their unrenewed na- 
ture is not improbably especially centered ? Be it so that 
the ungodly friend whom you meet in these circumstan- 



180 

ces has nothing in his character that can be denominated 
vicious, while yet he has httle or no thought respecting 
religion. Say then, what do you believe is the principal 
obstacle to his becoming a practical and decided christian ? 
If it were your grand object to effect his conversion, at 
what point in his character should you expect to encoun- 
ter the greatest difficulty ? What is it that leads you, at this 
moment, more than any thing else, to fear that he never will 
be converted ? Are you not constrained to acknowledge 
that it is his aversion to serious thought ; his passion for 
vain amusement ; in short, that very spirit which is in- 
dulged and cherished amidst a scene of worldly gaiety ? 
If then you allow yourself to be present in such scenes 
do you not perceive that you are giving your sanction to 
the very habit which it is most difficult for him to aban- 
don, but which nevertheless he must abandon, or lose his 
soul ? There may indeed in the case supposed be nothing 
like open immorality ; and if nothing else put the souls 
of men in jeopardy, this might be urged with some show 
of reason in vindication of your course ; but so long as 
mere inconsideration — the simple neglect of religion, is 
as certainly fraught with eternal ruin as vice itself, every 
thing that you do to encourage an inconsiderate spirit, 
brings upon you the guilt of trifling with the immortal in- 
terests of your fellow creatures. 

I will only add under this article, that the professing 
christian who falls into the current of worldly levities, 
does an injury not merely to his irreligious associates but 
to the world around him, by preventing the descent of 
the Holy Spirit. What is the spirit which we expect to 
see exhibited on the part of christians previous to a revi- 
val of religion ? Undoubtedly a spirit of prayer, and hu- 



181 

mility, and self denial. But is there any thing "which is 
more exactly the opposite of this than a spirit of world- 
ly gaiety ? What is it that is actually accomplished 
when religion is revived ? Is it not the breaking up of 
the surrounding carelessness ; the turning of the thoughts 
inward in self communion, and the lifting of them up- 
ward in humble prayer ; and the weeping and the mourn- 
ing of many in view of their own wanderings, and of the 
wide spread ruin which they see around them ? But 
who can conceive of any thing more unlike this, than the 
bounding of gay hearts amidst the levities of life ? Ac- 
cordingly we find that, whenever the Spirit is copiously 
poured out upon a church, the voice of gaiety among its 
members is hushed ; and if an individual summons the 
courage, or I should rather say, the hardihood, to go in- 
to a place of unhallowed mirth, his conduct is instantly 
marked as not in keeping with the spirit of the time, even 
by those who, in a season of spiritual apathy, might ex- 
hibit the same unedifying example. 

Is it not fair then to conclude that, where professors 
allow themselves in this habit of conformity to the world, 
they prevent the effusions of the Holy Spirit, and thus 
stand in the way of the salvation of men ? Let no one 
who indulges in such a course wonder if the earth around 
him is, in a spiritual sense, parched and sterile, and no 
plants of righteousness are seen shooting up to relieve the 
gloom of surrounding barrenness. Let him not marvel 
if month after month, and year after year, should pass 
away, and no voice of anxious inquiry should be heard 
in the circle, or the community, in which he moves ; for 
he has only to look to his own conduct, and that of oth- 

16 



182 

ers who are treading in his steps, to find a reason for this 
fact which ought to be overwhelming. 

Would you then, professing Christian, witness a revi- 
val of pure religion, and the extension of the kingdom of 
Christ ? Would you grow rapidly in grace, and avoid 
whatever may retard your progress in the divine life ? — 
Would you be indeed a helper to your brethren and 
sisters in Christ, instead of wounding their feelings, or 
disheartening them in their efforts, or alluring them on 
to forbidden ground by your example ? And finally, 
would you avoid the guilt and shame of having aided the 
ruin of immortal souls, and attain the honor and blessed- 
ness of having assisted to conduct them to glory ? Then 
take heed that your intercourse with the world is regula- 
ted by the precepts and spirit of the gospel. Keep aloof 
from the vanities and gaieties of life. Remember that 
they are among the unfruitful works of darkness with 
which you are to have nothing to do, except to reprove 
them. Acting in all respects consistently with this prin- 
ciple, you will diffuse around you the light of a holy ex- 
ample ; and that light you may hope will shine on the 
path of many of your fellow mortals to conduct them to 
heaven. 



I 



CHAPTER IV. 

PLEAS OF THE PROFESSED CHRISTIAN FOR MINGLING IN 
THE GAIETIES OF THE WORLD, CONSIDERED. 

There are various attitudes in which a professor of 
religion may be placed, that involve powerful temptations 
to that course of conformity to the world, which has been 
illustrated in the preceding chapters. He may have so 
far declined in spirituality as to have contracted a strong 
relish for the amusements and vanities of life ; or he may 
be thrown into circumstances in which it may seem to 
him extremely difficult to turn his back upon them ; or 
else he may have never reflected seriously on their evil 
tendency, and may have accustomed himself to regard 
them too much as matters of indifference : in either of 
these cases, there will be a temptation involved to which 
he will be in danger of yielding ; and if he determine to 
yield, just in proportion to the sensibility of his conscience, 
will be the necessity for inventing some apology to keep 
it quiet. Some of the pleas which are most frequently 
urged in justification of such a course, I will endeavor, in 
the present chapter, to analyze. 

1. '' I shall be sneered at as superstitious, if I decline 
mingling in these scenes. ^^ 

And suppose you are — have you not promised to take 
up the cross, and follow Christ, through bad, as well as 
good, report ? Was it not implied in the very condition 



184 

on which you became a disciple, that you would submit 
to any degree of reproach or indignity for the sake of 
him whom you had chosen as your Master ? Does it 
not belong essentially to the nature of christian obedience 
that it extends to every precept of the gospel, no matter 
how great the difficulties which may be involved ; — to 
the nature of christian self-denial, that it has respect 
to every forbidden pleasure, no matter how highly it may 
be valued, or how long it may have been enjoyed ? Can 
you not even bear a taunting look in the cause of Him 
whom you have recognised as your Saviour and Lord ? 
Surely this was not the spirit he evinced towards you, 
when, being rich, for your sake he became poor. In the 
agony of the garden, in the ignominy of the cross, in the 
deep humiliation of the grave, he exhibited towards you 
love stronger than death ; and where is your gratitude, 
where the evidence of your discipleship, if you cannot 
stand up and brook the contempt of his enemies ? 

But let us look at this apology a little more closely, and 
see whether it does not contain the elements of an ac- 
knowledgment that the course which it is designed to ex- 
cuse, is wrong. You will be sneered at — but who ever 
found it necessary to employ sneers in a good cause ? Or 
if it be admitted that, in a certain sense, and on some 
rare occasions, this is justifiable, yet surely it can not be 
so in respect to any thing which conscience and the God 
of conscience unitedly prescribe as a duty. The very in- 
strumentality then which is employed to induce you to 
yield, looks as if the cause were a suspicious one ;— as if 
the object proposed could not be accomplished by fair 
and honorable means 5 — as if it were necessary to bring 



I 



185 

in the world's dread laugh to do that for which sober ar- 
gument could not be successfully employed. 

But you will be sneered at as superstitious — you sure- 
ly have not to learn that nothing is more common than 
for genuine religion to be represented in the world under 
the name of superstition ; and that, just in proportion as a 
christian cultivates a habit of spirituality, and makes it 
manifest that his affections are set upon things above, 
there are many who will charge him with being super- 
stitious. Is not the very fact then that this epithet is em- 
ployed in relation to a christian's declining to mingle in 
the gaieties of the world, to be taken as a presumptive 
evidence that such a course is in itself right, and that 
the opposite would involve a violation of his covenant 
obligations ? 

Still farther — consider who are the persons from whom 
you expect to encounter this treatment. Are they not 
the very persons who treat religion with levity or indiffe- 
rence ? Do you ever expect to see them in the prayer 
meeting or the social religious circle, or to hear from them 
any thing which indicates that they have any regard to the 
honor of Christ and his kingdom ? Do you not fully be- 
lieve that they are under the dominion of that carnal 
mind which is enmity against God ? What then does the 
fact that such persons sneer at any particular course of 
conduct, imply ? Is it to be taken as a reason that such 
conduct is really unworthy the character of a christian ; 
or does it not rather look as if it might be the very con- 
duct which the precepts of the gospel would dictate, but 
which a world lying in wickedness would condemn ? 

But what if it should turn out, after all, that the lead- 
ing fact involved in this apology is magnified into an evil 

16* 



186 

which really has no existence ; and that, if the sneers of 
the world were ever so much to be deprecated, you have 
still nothing to fear from them in consequence of keeping 
aloof from scenes of gaiety ? I do not say that you may 
not, in individual cases, be greeted with a cold or even 
contemptuous look, especially if your conduct should in- 
dicate any thing like a timid or compromising spirit ; but 
this will rarely occur ; and even where it does, unless 
conscience is absolutely seared, the individuals who thus 
assail you will do violence to their own convictions. For 
wicked and worldly men have a conscience as truly as 
others ; and where they are surrounded by christian so- 
ciety, and live under a preached gospel, their conscience 
is almost of course in a good degree enlightened ; and 
however they may contrive to blind themselves in respect 
to their own duty, they have usually an exquisite per- 
ception of the obligations of professed christians. They 
know when you act in accordance with your profession, 
and when you do not ; and whatever the language of 
their lips may be, you would find, if you could look into 
their hearts, that, in the former case they honor your 
consistency, in the latter they secretly laugh you to scorn. 
Instances have fallen within my knowledge in which 
professors of religion have yielded up their scruples, and 
gone into scenes of gaiety, from the fear of being thought 
unreasonably rigid, who have, in the very act of mingling 
in these scenes, been pointed at, by some who have been 
present, with a sneering and triumphant air, as fine spe- 
cimens of the purifying influence of Christianity. I say 
again, you have nothing to fear from the sneers of the 
world in consequence of turning your back upon their 
gaieties ; but if you mingle in them, you have every 



187 

reason to expect, whether it comes to your knowledge or 
not, that a full measure of reproach will be dealt out to 
you. 

2. ^^ By declining all intercourse with the gay worlds I 
shall do an injury to religion^ by leaving upon many minds 
the impression that it is the creature of gloom, and un- 
friendly to the innocent enjoyments of life,"^^ 

Admit that this would be the effect — and what im- 
pression will you be likely to make by the opposite 
course ? Why either that there is no reality in religion, 
or else that it is a matter of such small moment that there 
is no danger in indefinitely postponing it. And tell me 
honestly, which result you believe is most to be depreca- 
ted. Should you consider the case of an unrenewed friend 
as more hopeful, if he should tell you that he regarded 
religion as casting a damp on some of the joys of life, or 
if he should say that he believed it all a cheat, or at any 
rate that it was a subject of too little importance to en- 
gage his attention r Is it not manifest that, in the for- 
mer case, there might be considerations urged upon his 
conscience, the force of which he would be obliged to 
acknowledge, even though his plea should not be aban- 
doned ; for admitting (what certainly is not true) that 
religion abridges in some measure the joys of the present, 
yet who would say that it is unworthy of regard, if it 
points to infinitely nobler and more enduring joys in the 
future ? Especially who would say this, in view of the 
fact that it is the only thing that can save the soul from 
interminable ruin ? But in the latter case, — that is, where 
there is a sceptical habit of mind in respect to the reality or 
importance of religion, I know not in what way I could 
gain a hold of the sinner's conscience, until I had succeeded 



188 

in inducing him to renounce his delusion. I might bring 
before his mind with ever so much urgency the coming 
realities of judgment and eternity ; but if he had even a 
lurking suspicion of the truth of what I was saying, I 
could have little hope of his being brought under its 
practical influence. 

I say then, even admitting the fact upon which you 
build your plea, it does not, by any means, go to estab- 
lish its validity ; for if the evil which you allege is like- 
ly to result from your declining to mingle in the gay world, 
a much greater evil will result from your consenting to 
mingle in it ; and if you are compelled to a choice be- 
tween two evils, you are certainly bound to choose the 
least. But to concede the fact you urge, were to con- 
cede too much : the truth is, your keeping aloof from 
scenes of fashionable levity, does not leave an impression 
that religion is gloomy ; it only leaves an impression that it 
is, what the bible actually represents it, a momentous re- 
ality, and that he who would be a consistent christian can- 
not be conformed to the world. Between christian cheer- 
fulness and worldly levity on the one hand, and between 
christian seriousness and a forbidding gloom on the other, 
there is a wide and essential difference ; and this differ- 
ence the world fully understand ; and that christian who 
declines the gaieties of life, while yet he exemplifies the 
winning cheerfulness which appropriately belongs to his 
character, need not fear but that he will pass with the 
world for precisely what he is ; and even if they accuse 
him of austerity, they will do it in the face of their own 
honest convictions. 

3. ''/ cannot decline this kind of intercourse without 
giving offence."^^ 



189 

Sometimes this apology is made in reference to the in- 
dividual from whom the invitation comes, and sometimes 
in reference to near friends, particularly members of the 
same family with the individual invited, who are urging 
the acceptance of it ; but, in either case, if the invitation 
is declined kindly and courteously, and especially if it is 
understood that the refusal is dictated by principle and 
conscience, there is usually very little danger of giving 
offence. It often happens that professors of religion, 
when they receive invitations of this kind, which they 
feel conscientiously bound to decline, alledge some reason 
for not accepting them growing out of considerations of 
convenience, rather than scruples of conscience ; thus 
leaving the impression that, but for accidental circumstan- 
ces, they would gladly have been present. But this is 
not only wrong, but extremely impolitic. It is wrong, 
as it involves a departure from the simplicity of the gos- 
pel ; and it is impolitic, because the individual thereby 
encourages a repetition of the same thing, and imposes 
upon himself a necessity of still farther trifling with his 
conscience by offering unmeaning apologies, or else of 
meeting the case fairly under circumstances of far greater 
difficulty than if there had been no semblance of timidi- 
ty or indecision. In every case of this kind I would say, 
avoid the appearance of insincerity ; and either decline 
the invitation without giving any reason, in which case the 
true one will very soon be understood, or else let your 
refusal be put distinctly on the ground that any other 
course would be inconsistent with your convictions of 
christian duty. Let this be done in a single instance, or 
at most in a very few instances, and there will be no oc- 
casion to repeat it farther ; and let it be done in the man- 



190 

ner which christian courtesy dictates, and it will be strange 
indeed if a single individual should regard you with di- 
minished good will. 

There are, I acknowledge, some cases in which the 
christian's duty on this subject is attended with peculiar 
difficulties. There are instances in which a christian 
female is connected in the most endearing relation with a 
man devoted to worldly pleasure ; and he may claim it 
as his privilege that his wife should accompany him into 
the gay scenes of fashionable life. And there are instan- 
ces too in which the pious child is urged into similar pla- 
ces by irreligious parents ; the latter neither considering 
nor regarding the obligations of a christian profession.— 
But even in these cases, if there be, on the part of the 
wife or the child, a proper degree of decision, prudence 
and kindness, the point will almost always be gain- 
ed with comparative ease ; for he does not deserve the 
name of husband who will not respect the religious prin- 
ciples of his wife ; nor does he deserve to be called a fa- 
ther who will employ parental authority in opposing the 
conscience of his child. But where respectful remon- 
strance and kind expostulation will not avail, and the wife 
or the daughter is compelled to go into circles from which 
her own conscience would keep her, if she were permit- 
ted to obey its dictates — though she is bound, so far as 
she can, to study the things that make for domestic peace 
— it is not less her duty than her privilege to throw the 
responsibility of the act where it properly belongs. This, 
however, is an extreme case, which is never likely to oc- 
cur, where there is, on the part of the husband or father, 
a common degree of self respect, or of conjugal or paren- 
tal tenderness. 



191 

But the same plea in substance is often made in favor 
of giving gay and fashionable parties. Says the profess- 
or of religion, '' I do not find any enjoyment in them; 
but unless I occasionally give an invitation, I shall lose 
the good will of many of my acquaintance." 

Never vras there a greater mistake. You may indeed 
forfeit the privilege (if you regard it one) of having your 
name ring among the votaries of fashion ; but you may 
also escape the dishonor of having it held up to public 
odium in connexion with the fact that you are a profess- 
or of religion. And not one even of those who would 
be glad to see you taking the lead in such an enterprise, 
would think the worse, but all would think the better, of 
you for declining it. But suppose you actually yield, 
and summon the votaries of gaiety in large numbers around 
you, and furnish them with all the means of gratification 
they can expect, and the evening passes off* in a whirl of 
frivolity and pleasure ; — what after all do you really be- 
lieve you have gained by it ? Not one of those individu- 
als to whose amusement you have contributed so much, 
will feel a particle of gratitude towards you ; but all will 
regard it as a mere offering to the pride of life — a neces- 
sary means of keeping up a name in the walks of fash- 
ion ; and it is more than probable that some of your guests 
may laugh at your foolish zeal, and perhaps your unsuc- 
cessful attempt, to eclipse your neighbors. When the 
company have dispersed, and the quiet of your dwelling 
is restored, you may sit down and reflect that you have 
not risen in the estimation of a solitary individual whom 
you have entertained ; and that, if you could hear a faith- 
ful report of the remarks that have already been made 
respecting your pride, your ambition, and above all your 



192 

religion, it would not improbably crimson your cheek 
with blushes. 

But suppose that you really could not decline giving or 
accepting invitations but at the expense of wounding the 
feelings of some of your worldly friends — if this conside- 
ration weighs so heavily upon you, what will you do with 
the fact that your yielding, in either case, will give pain to 
many of your christian friends ; — those too whose happi- 
ness you have solemnly pledged yourself to promote by 
every means in your power ? And is it so, that you regard 
the obligations of worldly courtesy as paramount to those 
of christian affection ; — that it involves a greater sacrifice 
for you to disregard the wrong feelings of the world, than 
the right feelings of the church ? Then, I am constrain- 
ed to say, you give evidence of no equivocal sort that you 
have cast in your lot with the former, and that you sus- 
tain to the latter only an external relation : and instead of 
urging upon you the obligation of a christian to avoid 
being conformed to the world, I would press you with 
tlie sinner's obligation to exercise repentance towards 
God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

4. *' Other professors of religion mingle in such scenes, 
wad it is no worse for me than for them,'^'^ 

But this very apology takes for granted that it is 
wrong ; and inspiration hath said that you shall not fol- 
low even the multitude to do evil. Remember that a 
sinful action is just as bad, when you are kept in coun- 
tenance in doing it by the example of thousands, as if it 
had never been done by any person on earth besides your- 
self. This very plea then contains within itself the ele- 
ments of your condemnation, as it includes a virtual 
ackowledgment of your guilt. There is no license to 



193 

sin in any circumstances, and in confessing that any par- 
ticular action is wrong, you virtually declare that it ought 
not to be repeated. But in saying that your conduct in 
the case which I am considering is no worse than that of 
some other professors, you certainly acknowledge that it 
is not right : of course the plea by which you would sus- 
tain yourself in it, suggests the very reason why it should 
be abandoned. 

Besides ; who, let me ask, has constituted the exam- 
ple of professing christians your rule of duty ? Has not 
God given you in his word the only rule ? And have 
you not the life of Jesus there exhibited as a perfect ex- 
emplification of that rule ? What occasion then, nay 
what right, have you, to look away from this perfect 
standard of duty, to the imperfect standard which is fur- 
nished by the lives even of the most exemplary of your 
fellow professors ; much less of those whose conduct is 
little better than an unbroken course of conformity to the 
world ? You are indeed bound to consider and imitate 
the example of christians, so far as they conform to the 
great model ; but w^hen you turn away from the perfect 
rule, and shape your conduct according to the loose max- 
ims of the world, on the ground that they are practically 
adopted by some who call themselves christians, what 
better do you than trifle with your own conscience, and 
injure your own soul? 

And have you reflected where this principle, if carried 
to its legitimate results, will land you ? If you are jus- 
tified in pleading the example of professed christians as 
your warrant for mingling in the gaieties of the world, 
why may you not with equal reason plead it in justifi- 
cation of participating in the vices of the world ? If 

17 



194 

there are professors who enter fully into the amusements 
of fashionable life, so also there are those who are 
unjust and oppressive in their dealings, and who are 
found in the haunts of dissipation and excess ; indeed 
there is hardly a vice, but if you should look through 
the annals of Christianity, or even consult the record of 
your own observation, you would find that it had been 
acted out in the life of some one or more who have had 
a place in the visible church. You may not perhaps 
have occasion to plead the example of professors for any 
thing beyond a participation in worldly gaieties ; but sup- 
pose your neighbor should be inclined to extend the prin- 
ciple a little farther, and urge it in defence of open and 
flagrant vice, what have you to object to such an appli- 
cation ? If the apology is good in your case, it is good 
in his ; and when he points to the dishonest professor in 
justification of his own dishonesty, to the intemperate 
professor in justification of his own intemperance, what- 
ever others may say in the way of condemning him, 
you can say nothing but at the expense of condemning 
yourself. 

But admitting that the course which this plea is de- 
signed to defend is wrong, (and this is here taken for 
granted,) do you not perceive that the very principle on 
which the plea is built, involves the provision for perpe- 
tuating an evil ? For if you may plead the example of 
some professors, others may plead your example with 
the same reason ; and the conduct of these may in turn 
become an example for others still ; and thus there is no 
point at which we can reasonably calculate that the evil 
will be arrested. If it should continue and increase in 
the church, it will be because others adopt the same 



195 

principle which controls your conduct : if its progress 
should be checked, it will be because others are wiser, 
and better, and more decided, than yourself, and resolve 
that, let the current of example set whichever way it 
may, they will keep a conscience void of offence. 

You say, perhaps, that you expect that this practice 
among christians, at some future day, will cease ; but that 
the church has not reached such a degree of spiritu- 
ality that she has a right to look for this at present ; and 
so you are willing to be found in the wrong, until the 
current of example actually forces you into the right. 
But if here is an existing error, on whom devolves the 
duty of endeavoring to remove it rather than yourself ? 
And besides, by persisting in it as long as you can, do 
you not perceive that you are contributing to palsy the 
efforts of those who have a better disposition than your- 
self ? Is it not manifest that the longer the practice is in- 
dulged, and the greater the number who give it their 
sanction, so much the stronger will be the current to be 
opposed by somebody in ultimately abolishing it ? That 
it will be abolished at last, there is no room for doubt ; 
but surely no part of the honor will belong to j^ou, if, 
with your eye upon the lax example of others, you shall 
have contributed the full influence of your example, to 
increase the difficulty of the work. 

5. " There is far less evil connected with a gay and 
fashionable party, than there is with those smaller meetings 
for social purposes^ in which a few individuals come to- 
gether and slander their neighbors.'*'^ 

Be it so — and what then ? Are you at liberty to com- 
mit one sin, because there are other greater sins than that 
to which you are tempted ? Suppose an individual were 



196 

charged with dishonesty, and he should attempt to justi- 
fy himself on the ground that dishonesty is not so great 
a crime as murder ; — where is the court, where is the in- 
dividual, that would sustain such an excuse for a mo- 
ment ? But this is precisely what you do in urging the 
plea under consideration. Before it could be of any 
avail, it would behoove you to show that you had the 
alternative presented before you of attending a gay and 
splendid party, or of joining with a few individuals in 
slandering your neighbors, and that you were compelled 
to choose between these two evils ; whereas the real 
state of the case is, that you are entirely at liberty to de- 
cline both. The fact that you keep aloof from the gaie- 
ties of the world neither imposes upon you any obliga- 
tion, or any necessity to be a slanderer. 

But this objection would seem to take for granted, what 
I really have yet to be convinced of — that one of the prin- 
cipal things which are done in the smaller circles of so- 
cial life, is to give loose to a propensity to slander. No 
doubt this spirit frequently discovers itself in sucli circles, 
as well as in almost all other circumstances ; not except- 
ing even those occasions which the objection would seem 
to imply are entirely free from it ; for where this happens 
to be the ruling passion of any individual, it will most 
probably show itself in spite of any circumstances. But 
I can see no reason why a few persons may not assemble 
for social purposes, and so far as the failings of their 
neighbors are concerned, keep a watch at the door of their 
lips, as truly as in any other condition. And while this 
seems entirely practicable, I cannot but think that, to a great 
extent at least, it is accordant with fact. If the opinion 
of those who have had most experience on the subject 



197 

could be gained, especially of those who move in the bet- 
ter walks of society, I venture to say, it would be that 
a slanderous spirit is by no means a prevailing character- 
istic of the smaller social circles in which they are accus- 
tomed to mingle ; and that they have passed many an 
evening with a few friends, without hearing the charac- 
ter of an individual, either directly or indirectly, assail- 
ed. 

After all, though I would not undertake to ascertain 
exactly the relative guilt of slander and certain other 
evils with which this objection places it in contrast, it 
may reasonably be questioned, admitting that there is as 
much slander as is alleged, whether these other evils do 
not more than counterbalance it. That slander is a great 
evil is surely not to be questioned ; — but that it is great- 
er than pride, and levity, and extravagance, and a whole 
array of circumstances fitted to cherish insensibility to re- 
ligion, and possibly something very much like slander su- 
peradded, may reasonably admit of doubt. Happily for 
the conscientious christian, he is not compelled to choose 
between these two different classes of evils ; but if he 
were really obliged to encourage one or the other, would 
he not at least find reason to deliberate, before he made 
his election in favor of the latter ? 

6. " By being present on these occasions, I may he able 
to prevent evil, and give a profitable direction to much of 
the conversation."^^ 

But how is it usually with other professors who place 
themselves in similar circumstances ? Do you really be- 
lieve that, where they allow themselves to mingle in such 
scenes, they exert the least influence in preventing irregu- 
larity or even excess ? Is not the fact that they are found 

17* 



198 

there perfectly well understood by the world to indicate 
that they have come prepared to take things as thay find 
them ; and does the gayest votary of pleasure who may 
be present, dream that he shall give them any offence by 
yielding himself up to his accustomed indulgences ? And 
in point of fact, is it not found that almost every profess- 
ing christian who enters such a circle, does nothing, either 
directly or indirectly, to check the current of worldly 
levities, or to leave an impression that he has less relish 
for the passing scenes than those around him ? Often 
have I heard it said by the votaries of thoughtlessness, 
and with an air of triumph too, that such and such pro- 
fessors of religion were with them in the scenes of their 
gaiety, and that there were none who seemed to have 
higher enjoyment. If such has been the result in respect 
to the great mass of professors who have gone into the 
gay world, and even those who have gone with the very 
plea which I am now considering ; — if, instead of endea- 
voring to keep others within the bounds of decorum and 
innocence, they have thrown themselves on the bosom 
of the current, and been carried along, without even an 
effort at resistance ; how can you reasonably expect that 
your experience in similar circumstances will differ essen- 
tially from theirs ? Are you sure that you have larger 
measures of grace than they; — that you have more 
strength to sustain you in the hour of temptation ? 

But pardon me for coming still nearer to your con- 
science. Do you believe that you are sincere in making 
this plea ? Dare you say, in the presence of that God who 
searches your heart, that it is your honest intention to 
exhibit the christian character in that scene of mirth and 
amusement, to which you are invited ? Do you really 



199 

expect to say or do any thing that shall distinguish you 
in any way from the rest of the company ; or that shall im- 
pose the least check upon any rising irregularity ; or that 
shall lead any individual who witnesses your conduct to 
take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus r r 
rather, do you not calculate upon being occupied in pre- 
cisely the same manner with the rest ; and if you knew 
that the consequence of your being present must be that 
you would be obliged, however indirectly, to take the at- 
titude of a reprover, and to indicate your dissatisfaction 
with the gay scenes which were going on around you, 
would you not unhesitatin^y determine to stay at home ? 
Believe me, it is possible for an individual to satisfy his 
conscience in this matter by the general reflection that 
his influence on these occasions may be for good, while 
yet the secret feeling of his heart is that, for the time be- 
ing, he shall be as truly a creature of thoughtlessness and 
vanity as the rest. I once knew a professedly pious young 
man apologise for his going to a ball, on the ground that 
it might afford him an opportunity to converse with some 
{vesent in respect to their salvation. But if he dropped 
a word to an individual on any religious topic, — which I 
greatiy question — I am sure it was done merely to compro- 
mise with a waking conscience. I admit that there are oc- 
casions in social life, which may well justify the presence 
of professors, with a view to their giving them a right direc- 
tion ; but in the case which I am supposing there is, hu- 
manly speaking, an absolute impossibility of such a re- 
sult ; for things are purposely arranged with the express 
view of giving to the gay world the controlling influence. 
I will not say that, even in such a case, a jwofessor may 
not indulge an honest desire and expectation of being able 



200 

to do good ; but if so, I cannot doubt that the experiment 
will reveal to him his mistake ; and in far the greater 
number of instances, I am constrained to believe, if he 
would question his conscience more closely, he would 
find that the desire of doing good was subordinate to the 
desire of worldly enjoyment. 

Inquire yet again, if you hope to be useful in these cir- 
cumstances, what facilities for doing good you will be 
likely to enjoy ? Do you expect to exert a salutary influ- 
ence by the general gravity of your appearance, as con- 
trasted with the levity of the surrounding multitude ? — 
But, rely on it, the multitude are too gay to be influenced 
by any such consideration ; and if you attract their atten- 
tention at all, it will probably be to ridicule your singu- 
larity, and perhaps to call you a hypocrite. Do you ex- 
pect to do good by serious conversation ? But who does 
not see that this is in bad keeping with the occasion ; and 
if you were to address any individual concerning his 
salvation, how naturally might he reply that you had 
not chosen the right place for it, and turn away from 
you in disgust to let his heart cheer him amidst the bril- 
liant and fascinating exhibitions by which he was sur- 
rounded ! And besides, in a gay and crowded assem- 
blage, how difficult is it to find an opportunity for the 
conversation of a moment in private ; especially for con- 
versation on so important a concern as the salvation of 
the soul ! Do you say that this inconvenience may be 
remedied by retiring with the individual with whom you 
would converse into some other apartment ? But it is 
more than probable he might not be disposed to accom- 
pany you, especially on such an errand ; and even if he 
were, why would it not be better to direct your atten- 



201 

tion to individuals who were already in circumstances of 
retirement, and whose thoughts were not dissipated by a 
scene of unhallowed levity ? Do you say that you hope 
the very presence of a professing christian will operate as 
a restraint ? Let me tell you there may be a number of 
professing christians mixed up in such an assemblage, and 
not one of all those children of gaiety may seem to know 
that one such individual is present. The power of con- 
trolling lies in the hands of the multitude ; and all that 
the presence of a few professors can do, is as the small 
dust of the balance. I say, then, you have no oppor- 
tunity to do good on these occasions, even if you honest- 
ly intend it : here is really no field for benevolent or use- 
ful action ; and whoever expects to find one will inevita- 
bly reap a harvest of disappointment. 

But you will point me perhaps to some instance of a 
sinner's having been actually awakened amidst the gaie- 
ties of a fashionable party, or even of the ball room. 
And so can I point you to a case in which the very same 
thing has happened amidst a scene of the grossest dissi- 
pation and the most daring blasphemy. Does the fact 
adduced in the former case, prove that the christian should 
be found in places of fashionable amusement, that he may 
put forth his efforts to advantage for the conversion of sin- 
ners ; — then does the fact adduced in the latter case 
prove that he should mingle freely in scenes of boisterous 
revelry and profane mirth, as if that were the field in 
which he could labor with the greatest hope of success 
for the salvation of his fellow men. 

7. ^' / have no fear that mingling in gay parties will 
do ME any harm.^'^ 



202 

What if it will not — Are you the only being whose in- 
terests are of any value ? Is not the soul of your broth- 
er, or sister, or any other human being around you, just 
as valuable as yours ? Suppose then you are not to be 
injured by being present on such an occasion ; yet if oth- 
ers will suffer in consequence of your example — if it 
shall be the means of leading into temptation some of 
your fellow professors who have less power of resistance 
than yourself ; or of keeping some impenitent sinner quiet 
in a habit of carelessness, who might otherwise be roused 
from his slumbers, is the fact that you are to escape un- 
hurt a sufficient apology for your being thus engaged ? 
But I have already shown you, in a former chapter, that 
this effect in respect to others is inevitable ; and that the 
bad influence which is thus exerted, it will probably be 
beyond your power subsequently to counteract. Unless 
then you can show — what I am sure you will not at- 
tempt — that it matters not what becomes of others, pro- 
vided you are safe, I think you cannot fail to perceive 
that this apology must pass for nothing. 

But far be it from me to concede your claim of being 
beyond the reach of personal harm in this matter. You 
are just as truly exposed to evil as any other person. 
You are a partaker of the same flesh and blood with oth- 
ers ; and as a christian, (if indeed you are one,) you are 
subject to the same infirmities and corruptions, and have 
the same liabilities to yield to temptation, with your fel- 
low christians. Nay, I venture to go farther, and say 
that you are in peculiar danger ; for the actual danger in 
any case is always much in proportion to the degree in 
which the individual is awake to the threatening evil ; 
and there is that in the very plea you urge, which shows 



203 

that you are not awake to it at all. If I saw you making 
ready for an occasion of this kind as a man would enter 
a hospital, fully apprehensive that you would be exposed 
to evil, and guarding yourself against it by devout medi- 
tation and fervent prayer, I might hope that you would 
possibly escape unhurt ; but when I witness no such pre- 
paration, and instead of it hear a self-confident declaration 
that you feel perfectly secure against harm, I am con- 
strained to believe that you are the very individual who, 
from having commenced a course of backsliding, will 
most easily fall before the power of temptation ; and 
much as I may wish for a diflferent result, I confidently 
expect that the event will be a practical illustration of 
the futility of your plea, and the weakness of your prin- 
ciples. 

There are other pleas to the same effect sometimes urg- 
ed, which it were easy to prove equally futile with those 
which have already been considered. But I am willing 
to believe that enough has been said to satisfy any pro- 
fessor of religion in respect to his duty, w^ho honestly 
wishes to ascertain it ; and as for those who will evade 
the considerations that have been urged, no doubt they 
would find some way of disposing of any others that 
could be urged. I will only say farther, let every pro- 
fessor who is tempted to admit any apology in this ease, 
analyze it well before he allows himself to act under its 
influence. Let him refer it to the eternal standard of 
truth and duty, and inquire of his conscience and of his 
God, how it will bear to be looked at by the light of the 
judgment day. 



CHAPTER V. 

RESPONSIBILITY OF CHRISTIANS IN THE HIGHER WALKS 

OF LIFE, IN RESPECT TO THE PREVAILING 

CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD. 

It is an immutable law of the divine administration, 
that, '' unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be 
much required." Hence those who move in an elevated 
sphere, and have the means of exerting a commanding 
influence, are responsible for an amount of good equal to 
the extended means of usefulness with which they are 
favored. And hence too, they who neglect or pervert 
this important talent, and use it for the injury, rather than 
the benefit, of their fellow creatures, are bringing togeth- 
er the elements of a fearful retribution. 

There are those in the church as well as in the world, 
who, from their elevated standing in life, send abroad an 
influence for good or evil, which circulates through all 
the pores of society. Let a few individuals of high stand- 
ing in a church combine their influence to lower the 
standard of christian character ; or without any special 
effort at combination, let them severally exhibit in a high 
degree the spirit of the world ; and in all probability that 
church, as a body, will soon have lamentably declined in 
all that constituted its beauty and strength. Let any ex- 
tensive community of professed christianSj or if you 
please, the church at large, have within its bosom a great 

18 



206 

number of a similar character — men of commanding in- 
fluence, and yet of a worldly spirit — and you can expect 
nothing better than that the spiritual vigor and energy of 
the whole body will be greatly diminished. It is in view 
of the extensive influence which is possessed by chris- 
tians in the higher classes, and of the fact that so many 
of them have, either directly or indirectly, given their 
sanction to scenes of worldly gaiety, that they are to be 
held chiefly responsible for the prevailing conformity to 
the world. 

In illustrating the responsibility of this class of profes- 
sors in reference to this matter, my first remark is, that 
the evil has its existence principally among them. If you 
look through any community, you will find that the great 
majority of those who give gay and splendid parties, 
move in the higher circles of society ; and if you should 
take pains to ascertain who are present on these occa- 
sions, you would generally find that they were persons 
who approximate at least, in their worldly condition, to- 
wards the individual by whom the invitation is given : or 
if they happen, in some cases, to be much below him, 
yet they are still recognised, in some general sense, as 
belonging to the same class. One principal reason of 
this, no doubt, is, that there is an amount of expendi- 
ture incident to such an occasion, which it is not conve- 
nient for any other than a person of aflluence to incur. 
I know there are rich men in the middle walks of fife ; 
and I know too there are many who are not rich, in whom 
the pride of life is so far the ruling passion, that they 
hesitate not to embarrass themselves, and ultimately to 
distress their families, for the sake of indulging it ; but 
in most cases where you find a large fortune, you find 



207 

that its possessor has already mounted up into the higher 
circles ; or if he has not, that it is only from the lack of a 
disposition ; and so too, where you see an individual in- 
curring the expense of a splendid and fashionable party, 
you will ordinarily find that he has, or supposes himself 
to have, pecuniary resources adequate to justify it. 

But the responsibility of the more opulent and influen- 
tial class of professors, appears farther, from the influence 
which they exert in this particular upon each other » This 
influence is exerted in encouraging a spirit of ambition, 
in suppressing scruples of conscience, or in imparting cou- 
rage to encounter opposition and censure. Here is an in- 
dividual who would be quite willing to let the gaieties of 
the world alone, provided he could do so without seem- 
ing to come short of some of his fashionable neighbors ; 
but when he looks at them, and sees them collecting the 
votaries of pleasure by hundreds in their dwellings, and 
hears of, or perhaps witnesses, the brilliant and fascinating 
scenes which are going forward there, the spirit of ambi- 
tion whispers to him that, if he would not lose his rank 
in society, he must go and do likewise. Yonder is ano- 
ther individual who has really a relish for fashionable 
amusements, and would gladly have his habitation echo 
to the voice of unhallowed mirth ; but he cannot keep 
out of view the fact that he is a professor of religion, 
and has solemnly covenanted to walk with God's people 
in an exemplary manner ; and the question arises, how 
he can gratify his propensity on the one hand, without 
violating his obligations on the other ? If there were no 
bad examples to which he could turn his eye at such a 
moment, no doubt the suggestions of conscience would 
prevail ; but unhappily he looks at one, and another, and 



208 

another, of his fellow professors, and sees them walking 
in the same path to which he is inclined ; and when he 
reflects that they are in the church as well as he, that 
whatever responsibility he incurs by yielding up his scru- 
ples, they have incurred already, he straightway bids the 
monitor within be still ; and the next you hear of him, 
the children of vanity are coming by scores to witness the 
splendor with which he can entertain them, and to turn 
his house into a theatre of wild confusion and delirious 
joy. And there is yet another individual who may be 
influenced either by the spirit of ambition, or the love of 
gaiety, to wish to have a similar scene in his dwelling : he 
he knows, however, that it will be unpopular in the church, 
and he is not quite sure that it may not subject him to 
some reproach in the world : but here again comes up the 
all-sustaining reflection that other professors around him 
are doing the same thing ; and that, though he could not 
so well afford to sustain the responsibility of such a mea- 
sure alone, yet in consideration of the fact that he is not 
alone, he concludes that he may safely enough proceed. 
And accordingly, it will be found, if I mistake not, that 
where a professor has actually yielded in this case, and 
the voice of censure and reproach subsequently reaches 
his ear, he is exceedingly apt to carry his grievance to 
those in the same circumstances with himself; and they 
join in mutually defending each others' conduct, and re- 
probating the illiberal spirit which has been exercised 
towards them, and setting it all down to the account 
of vulgar prejudice, or corroding envy, or gross ignorance 
of human nature. 

It were well if this unhappy influence terminated on 
the class in which it originates ; but it is carried down 



209 

among the lower classes, and is felt, no doubt ^ in a greater 
or less degree J through all the ranks of society. I admit 
that we do not ordinarily see in the humbler classes, the 
same amount of parade and splendor as in the higher ; — 
that is not to be expected for the reason already given ; 
nevertheless, there are instances in which men in the mid- 
dle walks of life, and professors of religion too, evident- 
ly, in this respect, ape the example of those above them ; 
and actually make entertainments scarcely less expensive, 
or public, or dangerous to the interests of religion, than 
are most of those which occur nearer the pinnacle of so- 
ciety. But even where this is not done, the influence of 
the higher classes of professors is felt upon the lower, in 
leading many of them to go in this respect to the full 
measure of their pecuniary ability ; and though their par- 
ties may be formed on a less expensive scale, yet they 
have in them the elements of almost every evil which is 
incident to similar collections in the higher circles. Par- 
ticularly they yield themselves up to the same spirit of un- 
restrained levity ; and give the lighter passions full control ; 
and possibly do not always keep on the right side of the line 
which separates decency from vulgarity. Not improba- 
bly, in all this, they may wish to be thought independent ; 
and to be acting without reference to the opinion or the 
example of any body ; but if you knew all, you would 
probably know that they had their eye fastened on some 
professors who occupy places above them, whose con- 
duct ought to be worthy of their imitation ; and if you 
should venture to rebuke the inconsiderateness which cha- 
racterizes their deportment, peradventure they would, in 
their hearts, if not with their lips, answer your reproof 
by an appeal to the example of some of their brethren in 

18* 



210 

the church of more wealth and influence than them- 
selves. 

It is evident, I think, from the preceding remarks, that, 
if professors in the higher walks of life would become 
right on this subject, the evil we are contemplating, would 
at once, in a great measure, be cured ; not only because 
it has its primary operation in the circles in which they 
move, but because their opinions and example form, to a 
great extent, the real, though unacknowledged, law of the 
multitude below them. Surely then, such a reformation 
must be regarded by every christian who is alive to his 
Master's honor, as of the highest importance ; for the re- 
sult would certainly be a far more elevated standard of 
christian character among all classes of professors. 

Methinks I hear some professing christian who has 
hitherto been known in the circles of fashion, say, ' Such 
a change would indeed be desirable ; but then, who shall 
begin it, and^how shall it be begun ?' I answer, begin it 
yourself ; for there is not a human being on whom it 
more properly devolves ; — and if you will lend me your 
attention a moment, I will tell you both how to begin, 
and how to proceed, that the happiest result may be se- 
cured. 

Begin then by settling it in your mind that whatever 
others may do^ you will be faithful to your convictions of 
duty. Resolve that you will meet every temptation to 
the course you have hitherto pursued, come from what- 
ever source it may, by a simple reference to the require- 
ments of God ; and that neither the love of pleasure, nor 
the spirit of ambition, nor a regard to the smiles of the 
gay and worldly, shall prevail over the honest decisions 
of your conscience. And with a consciousness of your 



211 

own weakness, let the resolution be formed in the strength 
of all sufficient grace ; and invoke the aids of that grace, 
humbly, and fervently, and daily, to enable you to carry 
your purpose into effect. 

In the next place, make known your purpose to some 
one or more of your friends^ who have been accustomed, like 
yourself^ to he seen often in the gay worldy and endeavor to 
enlist them in the same course on which you have already 
entered. In this way, you will accomplish two impor- 
tant ends : you will fortify your own resolution against 
the temptations by which it may be assailed ; and you 
will increase the amount of influence which is to bear 
upon the evil that you wish to remedy. 

Does it occur to you that you might do all this and 
more, and still little or no impression would be made on 
the mass of society around you ? Rely on it, you are in 
a mistake. Admitting, what I here take for granted, that 
Providence has placed you in an elevated station, and 
that the individual or individuals who join you in the 
resolution are in similar circumstances, you will exert an 
influence that will be felt, and sooner or later acknowledg- 
ed, in every circle in the surrounding community. Some 
professors, who have had little or no inclination for the 
gaieties of life, but have been afraid to decHne them lest 
they should appear singular in the circle in which they 
move, will look at your example and take courage : 
others, whose hearts are too much in them, and who have 
kept conscience quiet by observing how strongly the cur- 
rent of public opinion has seemed to set in their favor, 
will look at your example, and feel rebuked ; for con- 
science will take advantage of it to remind them that 
they are in the wrong ; and in the train of reflection and re- 



212 

morse there is reason to hope may come repentance. 
Say not that what you can do will be of little avail. I 
doubt not that in almost every church which includes a 
considerable number in the higher ranks of society, there 
are several individuals, any one of whom might set cau- 
ses in operation which would ultimately, and at no dis- 
tant period, completely remove this evil, which is so ob- 
viously a worm at the root of the church's prosperity. 

The next thing to be considered is, if you give up this 
kind of intercourse of which I have spoken, what shall be 
substituted in its place ? The answer to this inquiry has 
already been anticipated, to some extent, in a preceding 
chapter ; but it may be proper here to suggest a few things, 
even though it should be at the expense of repetition. I 
say again then, I am far from desiring that you should 
never meet in the social circle your friends who are not 
professors of religion : on the contrary, you should regard 
it a privilege to associate with them in this way, especi- 
ally as furnishing you an opportunity of doing them good. 
But that the objects which you should desire to gain in 
bringing your acquaintances around you, may be accom- 
plished, you must be somewhat cautious and discrimina- 
ting in your selection ; always taking care that so large 
a part of your guests shall be persons of stability and se- 
riousness, as is necessary to secure a controlling influence 
in favor of what is decent and useful ; and if your gay 
friends who happen not to be invited, should complain of 
your partiality or laugh at your scrupulousness, you may 
be assured that they will still in their consciences honor 
your consistency. And even this class need not, by any 
means, be altogether excluded : only take care and keep 
them a minority in the circle, and let them be made prac- 



213 

tically to understand that it is the right of the majority, 
in this, as in other cases, to rule. Let there be a few 
such persons in a sober and intelligent collection, and 
they will be subject to a restraint which will keep them 
from violating any of the rules of decorum. But let 
the same persons be in a circle composed, with few 
exceptions, of those of their own character, and they 
will be fellow helpers with those around them in all that 
is vain, and boisterous, and foolish. 

Not only in the selection of your guests, but in other 
ways, make provision, so far as you can, for a cheerful, 
social, profitable meeting. Endeavor, as you have op- 
portunity, to give the conversation such a turn, as will 
be likely to unite instruction with rational amusement. 
If you have specimens of the curious or the beautiful, 
whether in nature or art, you may innocently and useful- 
ly exhibit them : and probably there will be some of 
your friends, whose taste such an exhibition would serve 
particularly to gratify. You may also, with perfect pro- 
priety, have the exhilirating and delightful influence of 
music ; provided always it be decorous and dignified. I 
have already intimated that you are to provide against ir- 
regularities, to a great extent, in the selection of your 
guests ; but if, notwithstanding, you should, at any time, 
discover among them a rising spirit of disorder, you 
ought in some way to manifest your disapprobation ; and 
you may ordinarily suppress it by a single look. Your 
entertainment certainly should be generous and respecta- 
ble ; but not marked by ostentation or extravagance. 
And finally, every thing should be conducted with such 
freedom from frivolity and nonsense, and such strict re- 
gard to decorum, that if it should be thought best to close 



214 

the evening with prayer, no individual should feel that 
any thing had occurred to render such a step incongru- 
ous. Does not all this appear perfectly reasonable and 
practicable? Where is the professing christian whose 
conscience does not decide in favor of such a party as I 
have now described, rather than those which I have en- 
deavored to show, bring dishonor upon religion, and palsy 
the energies of the church ? 

I cannot conclude this chapter without calling upon 
christians in the higher walks of life, who have been ac- 
customed hitherto to mingle freely or occasionally in the 
gaieties of the world, to ponder solemnly their responsi- 
bility in reference to this matter. I should not discharge 
my conscience before God, if I were not honestly to de- 
clare my conviction, that this course involves an amount 
of guilt to which you could not awake without being 
startled ; that it involves inj ury to the cause of Christ, 
which ought, in view of the past, to bring you upon your 
knees in humiliation and penitence. I cannot say how 
far God may interpose, by his providence and Spirit, to 
counteract the untoward influence of your lax example ; 
but if you continue in this course, and the standard of 
christian character around you should be miserably de- 
pressed, and the multitude should keep on slumbering in 
the arms of spiritual death, and the rain and the dews 
of heavenly grace should be withheld, and there should 
be few or none to mourn over the surrounding desolation ; 
you may sit down and reflect that this is all the natural 
fruit of your own doings. If you were acting for your- 
selves only, the evil would be far less ; but you are ex- 
erting an influence on all within your reach, and especial- 
ly on all below you. You are contributing directly and 



215 

efficiently to depress the standard of religious feeling and 
action, and to render indistinct and dubious the line that 
separates the church from the world. Nay more, you 
are lending your influence to propagate this evil to future 
generations ; for the religious character of the present 
age, whatever it may be, will descend, in a great mea- 
sure, to the next ; so that the unfaithful professor will 
perpetuate himself, if not in the memories, yet in the 
characters, of many who will come after him. Persevere 
in this course of conformity to the world, and you need 
not wonder if the thought should come to you on your 
death bed, that, though you have had a place in the Lord's 
vineyard, you have been worse than a cumberer of the 
ground ; if the fact should be revealed to you in the gate 
of eternity, that you have ruined your own soul, and the 
additional fact that innumerable other souls have been 
ruined by your instrumentality. 

But suppose, on the other hand, you resolutely turn 
away from the gay world, and resolve that you will never 
again mingle in it ; and suppose you not only persevere 
in this purpose yourselves, but endeavor to carry others 
along wdth you, and determine, if your life is spared, to 
exert your influence in this way, till this evil is effectu- 
ally removed from the church ; — if you do this, I say, it 
must be left for the ages of eternity to develope the 
amount of good which you will thereby be instrumental 
of accomplishing. Let such a reformation as this be- 
come universal, and one of the greatest obstacles to the 
success of the gospel would be taken out of the way. — 
Religion would then walk about the earth, not indeed 
in habiliments of gloom, but in robes of consistency. — 
Revivals would multiply on every side, not merely be- 



216 

cause christians would have more time and more inclina- 
tion to pray and labor for them, but because that divine 
influence by which every revival is originated and sus- 
tained, would not be resisted or grieved away by the con- 
formity of the church to the world. That cold and proud 
and selfish spirit which is so often exhibited by profess- 
ors in the higher circles towards their brethren and sisters 
in humbler circumstances, would rapidly decline ; and it 
would be felt by all that the distinctions of society which 
God has ordained, may exist consistently with an aSec- 
tionate intercourse between christians of every class and 
condition. And the present age would acquire a charac- 
ter for consistency and spirituahty, which would well 
bear to be transmitted to ages to come ; and beyond the 
grave, when the doings of the present shall be looked at 
by the light of eternity, they who had been active in this 
reform would no doubt see, not only that they had saved 
souls from death, and caused Zion to look forth in increa- 
sed beauty and strength, but that they had exerted a 
most direct and decisive influence towards the introduc- 
tion of millenial glory. 

Brethren and sisters, whom God has elevated above 
the mass of your fellow christians, by conferring upon 
you wealth, or honor, or influence, let me entreat you, 
yet once more, not to suffer yourselves to be ensnared by 
the gaieties of fashionable life. By a regard to every 
thing connected with your own immortal interests, but 
more especially here by a regard to the salvation of sin- 
ners, the bleeding cause of religion, the dishonored name 
of your Redeemer, I entreat you, in this matter, to act 
the part of consistent christians. Dream not that I have 
magnified the evil against which I have been endeavoring 



217 

to guard you : on the contrary, be assured that its influ- 
ence is far more diversified, and extensive, and disastrous, 
than you or I can at present conceive. Ponder the so- 
lemnity and responsibihty of your condition every day 
that you Hve. Rise up to the faithful and vigorous dis- 
charge of duty in this respect, and I may venture to pro- 
nounce that a tide of blessing will begin to set in upon 
you, which will continue to flow while immortaUty en- 
dures. 



19 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE christian's INTERCOURSE WITH THE UNRENEW- 
ED SINNER IN RESPECT TO HIS SALVATION. 

Hitherto I have considered the christian in some of 
the more general attitudes in which he is placed by the 
relations he sustains to the world. I have exhibited him 
as the man of business, — as mingling with his fellow men 
from day to day in the common concerns of life ; and 
have endeavored to sketch an outline of the course which 
becomes him in that relation. And I have contemplated 
him in the social circle, — associating for purposes of en- 
joyment or improvement with those who have not the 
' hke precious faith' with himself ; and have attempted to 
discrinainate between those social meetings which he may, 
and those which he may not, encourage by his presence. 
It only remains to contemplate him in the more particular 
attitude of communing with men of the world in respect 
to their immortal interests ; — a duty which most profess- 
ors are equally ready to admit in theory, and to neglect 
in practice. 

I. What are some of the characteristics of the 
right performance of this duty } 
1. Discretion » 

There should be a discreet reference to time, place, and 
circumstances^ 



220 

In general, this duty is attempted with the best hope 
of success, where there is no one present to listen to the 
conversation. In all ordinary cases, where you approach 
an unrenewed sinner in respect to his salvation, especially 
where his mind is not, in some good degree, awake to 
the importance of the subject, you place him at once in 
circumstances in which, at best, he is likely to feel little 
freedom, and in which the presence even of an individual 
may not improbably subject him to great embarrassment ; 
and if he is abruptly accosted in the hearing of several 
persons, even though they may be his intimate friends, it 
will not be strange if his mind revolts into a state of po- 
sitive anger. I am aware that some professors of reli- 
gion, and even ministers of the gospel, have thought it 
meet to adopt a somewhat public, abrupt, and even abu- 
sive, manner of addressing men who were indifferent to 
religion, for the very purpose of exciting their indigna- 
tion, as a first step towards bringing them to repentance ; 
but I see not why such a practice does not involve the li- 
centious principle of doing evil that good may come ; and 
though it should be conceded that, in some few cases, 
God, in the sovereignty of his wisdom, may have over- 
ruled an ill-judged conversation, as he may any thing else 
that is imprudent or evil, to the awakening and conver- 
sion of a sinner, I cannot doubt that, in almost every 
case, the legitimate result of such a course is realized, in 
increasing the obduracy of his heart, and in multiplying 
the obstacles to his salvation. 

Closely allied to the indiscretion of addressing an indi- 
vidual in the manner just described, is that of proclaim- 
ing the result of any private conversation, especially so 
that it shall reach the ears of the person with whom it 



221 

has been held. The same reason which will induce a 
man of the world to shrink from being addressed on 
this subject in the presence of others, will inspire a re- 
luctance to having any publicity given to the fact of his 
having been privately engaged in such a conversation ; 
and instances, I doubt not, have occurred in which indi- 
viduals who had begun to reflect seriously, and seemed 
likely, humanly speaking, to be brought to repentance, 
have actually been driven back into the ranks of the care- 
less, and have become more fortified against religious im- 
pressions than ever, in consequence of its having been 
imprudently blazoned abroad that they had revealed to 
some friend the secret that they were anxious for their 
salvation. I was sometime since informed, on good au- 
thority, of a lady who had dressed herself with some de- 
gree of extravagance, and taken her seat in the parlor to 
receive her friends ; and as they successively called, she 
informed them, without even the appearance of confiding 
to them a secret, that she was observing a day of pri- 
vate fasting and prayer for the conversion of her husband. 
Not to dwell upon the ostentatious character of such an 
act — so much like the sounding of a trumpet to proclaim 
one's secret devotions — how manifest is it that it was 
adapted to exert a bad influence on her husband ; and it 
can hardly be doubted that, if it ever reached his ears, 
it awakened in his mind nothing better than irritation and 
disgust. 

After all, it is admitted that there are occasions, which 
justify a professing christian in addressing an unrenewed 
sinner directly, in reference to his salvation, in the pre- 
sence of others. There are cases in which inquiring sin- 
ners come together for the very purpose of being individu- 

19* 



222 

ally conversed with, in respect to their spiritual condition ; 
and where this is not the case, a professor of religion may 
have such a knowledge of the character and feelings of the 
individual with whom he would converse, that he may feel 
himself warranted, even in a somewhat mixed company, 
in bringing home to his conscience the great subject of 
personal religion. There is no case perhaps, in which it 
is more important that a conversation of this kind should 
be held in private, than where the design on the part 
of a professing christian is to reprove an ungodly friend 
for some vicious indulgence : the reproof itself may not 
improbably be more than will very quietly be borne ; 
but if, in addition to that, it comes in a way fitted to 
give publicity to the offence against which it is direct- 
ed, the almost certain effect will be that, instead of 
leading to salutary reflection, it will only awaken violent 
prejudices and bitter resentment. Nevertheless there are 
instances in which it is plainly the duty of a professor to 
reprove an. individual for his transgressions, even though 
the occasion be somewhat public, at the very moment of 
their being committed ; and to connect with the reproof 
a solemn admonition to repentance. This may be incum- 
bent upon him, not only from a regard to the best inte- 
rests of the individual whom he addresses, but from a 
respect to those around him, and even to his own chris- 
tian character ; for though the person to whom the ad- 
monition is administered may not be profited by it, pe- 
radventure some who hear it may be led to apply ii to 
themselves ; and if no other end is gained, he will at 
least have exhibited the independence and consistency of 
a christian. No doubt a christian may be providentially 
present in a scene in which there is so much riot and bias- 



223 

phemy, and the bad passions of the heart are so madly- 
acted out, that to attempt any thing, in the way of re- 
proof, would result in nothing but increased evil ; but in 
all ordinary cases in which he witnesses an exhibition of 
vice in any form, in the presence of others, he is doubt- 
less bound, in some way, to administer a reproof, or at 
least to testify his disapprobation, as publicly as the of- 
fence was committed. 

There are peculiar advantages for the discharge of this 
duty in the season of affliction. Though affliction, in it- 
self considered, has no sanctifying efficacy, yet it has a 
tendency, for a time at least, to subdue the spirit and 
soften the heart. It teaches, more impressively than al- 
most any thing else, the emptiness of worldly joys, and 
the value of the sustaining influences of religion ; and 
many a man who, in other circumstances, might manifest 
an utter disregard to the gospel, and even trifle with the 
christian's hope, has, in the dark day of adversity, been 
brought to feel that it were worth more than the world has 
to bestow, to be a true disciple of Christ. Prosperity 
naturally makes the careless sinner more careless ; and 
the sceptic it has a tendency to confirm in his scepti- 
cism ; but let affliction come, and even though there may 
be no permanent good accomplished, it is more than pro- 
bable that, for the time, the heart will become more ten- 
der, and the understanding more open to the truth. At 
such a season then, the christian may, with great advan- 
tage, press the sinner's conscience with the obligations of 
religion ; he may bring before him the most momentous 
truths in the most solemn manner ; and in all ordinary 
cases, instead of giving offence, he will be listened to with 
earnest attention and deep interest. And there is good 



224 

reason to hope that the impressions which are thus made, 
especially if followed up by a repetition of serious coun- 
sels and admonitions, may prove the germ of a thorough- 
ly renovated character. What christian who has been 
in the habit of mingling as a counsellor and comforter in 
scenes of affliction, but has been struck with the fact, 
that there is no difficulty in conversing with unrenewed 
sinners, in such circumstances, in respect to their salva- 
tion ? Instead of objecting to it even in their feelings, 
they almost of course expect, and often desire, it ; and 
where such an occasion is suffered to pass without any 
such improvement on the part of their christian friends, 
no doubt it frequently leaves a sad impression in respect 
to the consistency and the fidelity of the professed follow- 
ers of Christ. 

A season of revival also, brings with it the most fa- 
vorable opportunities for the discharge of this duty. 
There are many then who are ready enough to acknow- 
ledge themselves anxious in respect to their eternal inte- 
rests ; and who regard it a privilege to open their hearts 
without reserve to their christian friends, and listen to 
their counsels and instructions : and there are many oth- 
ers in whom fear, or shame, or some other worldly prin- 
ciple, operates to keep them from frankly disclosing their 
feelings, who yet are deeply impressed with the great 
truths of religion, and are as anxious perhaps as any 
around them to know what they shall do to be saved. 
At such a moment it is not uncommon to find sinners in 
all the various states of mind ; — from a bitter and scoffing 
opposition to the work, down to absolute despair of the 
mercy of God ; and while far the greater part of them 
are ready to be conversed with, and count it a privilege 



225 

to be conversed with, there is abundant reason why they 
should all, so far as possible, be personally addressed ; 
not only because, in most 'cases, the ear is open to re- 
ceive instruction, but because the Spirit is peculiarly rea- 
dy to give it effect. I may appeal to any christian who 
has mingled in such a scene for evidence of the fact, that 
the reserve which exists, at other times, in respect to re- 
ligious things, usually melts away then ; and that while 
suitable counsels and directions come easily to the mind 
of the christian, they flow with equal ease from his lips, 
and as readily find a lodgment in the understanding and 
heart to which they are addressed. That professor, 
therefore, who neglects the opportunity afforded by a re- 
vival, of conversing freely with the unrenewed, is charge- 
able, to say the least, with the indiscretion of overlook- 
ing or abusing a highly important means of doing good. 

There should also be a judicious reference to the relation 
that exists between the individual performing the duty^ 
and the person with whom he attempts to converse. 

Suppose, being a professor of religion, you would ad- 
dress on the subject of his salvation an individual of near- 
ly your own age, of the same standing in life, and with- 
al one with whom you are intimately acquainted — you 
may reasonably take advantage of all these circumstances 
to approach him with the greater freedom. Or suppose 
the individual to be much younger than yourself, or to 
occupy a place in society much below you, or to be de- 
pendant in some sense upon your care and kindness ; — 
suppose, especially, that he be a child, or a servant, who 
is not only subject to your authority, but naturally looks 
to you for direction — here again, you may enter on this 
duty with a degree of familiarity which would ill be- 



226 

come some other circumstances ; inasmuch as the relation 
you sustain to the individual is that of a superior to an 
inferior. But let the case be changed, and suppose your- 
self in the humbler place, and the person whom you ad- 
dress in the higher ; — be it that you would approach a 
man in reference to his immortal interests, who is so far 
above you that you would scarcely think of coming near 
him in any of the ordinary concerns of life ; — ^be it that 
you are a servant, and you long for the salvation of an 
ungodly master ; or that you are a child , and your heart 
sinks within you in view of the carelessness or the vices 
of a beloved parent — in either of these cases, the office 
of counselling and admonishing becomes one of extreme 
delicacy and difficulty ; and it were perhaps better that it 
should be neglected altogether, than attempted in a rash 
and injudicious manner. But, in almost every instance, 
something may be done, without any hazard of evil. If 
you resolve on making a direct approach to the individu- 
al, you should not only select the most favorable moment, 
but should recognise in your whole manner the relation 
you sustain to him, and should guard against leaving an 
impression that you are actuated by a presuming and dic- 
tatorial spirit. But in many cases you will come at your 
object best, indirectly. You may place a book, or a tract, 
in the way of the person whom you wish to benefit, 
which possibly he may be induced to read, and which 
may speak to him more appropriately and pungently, 
than you could do, if there was nothing to embarrass you. 
And sometimes, especially in the case of a child, much 
good may be hoped for from an affectionate and expostu- 
latory letter ; for it is not easy to say what that father's 
heart must be made of, that will feel no relentings as he 



227 

reads over the warm expressions of filial anxiety for his 
salvation. Such a step will often serve happily to pre- 
pare the way for a conversation ; and instances, I know, 
have occurred, in which it has proved the beginning of a 
course of means that has hopefully resulted in reclaiming 
an ungodly father from the error of his ways, and saving 
a soul from everlasting ruin. 

I know it may be said, in reply to all this, that I am 
giving too much importance in this matter to mere world- 
ly considerations ; and that it matters not from whose 
lips the truth falls upon the ear of an impenitent sinner, 
provided only it reaches it. But this surely is a mistake. 
I acknowledge indeed that the truth, in itself considered, 
is of no higher importance, as declared by one person, 
than another ; nevertheless, in our efforts to reach the con- 
sciences of men, we are obliged to take them as they are ; 
and all experience proves that there is a tendency in the 
human mind practically to estimate the importance of a 
message, somewhat by the character of the person who 
delivers it ; and this principle will have its operation in 
the case I am considering. The legitimate inference from 
this is, not that an inferior should never put forth direct 
efforts for the conversion of a superior, but that they 
should be made in that modest and unpretending spirit, 
which becomes the relation the former sustains to the 
latter. And I should want no better illustration of the 
importance of this principle, than would be furnished by 
a record of those cases in which it has been practically 
disregarded. 

This duty should be performed also with reference to 
the intellectual capacity, and the degree of religious know- 



228 

kdge^ possessed by the individual whom it is intended to 
benefit. 

It is not always safe to presume, from the fact that a 
person has a vigorous and highly cultivated mind, or even 
has enjoyed great opportunities for acquiring religious 
knov^ledge, that he is of course vrell acquainted v^ith the 
truths of the bible ; for many a man of fine intellect sits 
under a preached gospel, during his whole life, with a 
mind so little interested in the truths which are proclaim- 
ed, and so entirely absorbed in other things, that he scarce- 
ly becomes initiated in the rudiments of theology : and if 
you will benefit him by serious conversation, you must 
go back with him to the very alphabet of Christianity. — 
Admitting that he is a person of high intellectual culture, 
it may be necessary for you to enlighten him without 
seeming to have your attention drawn much towards his 
ignorance ; for there is danger that you will startle his 
pride into exercise, and that the dread of putting himself 
in the attitude of a learner may even prevail over the 
wish to be enlightened : but it is absolutely essential, if 
you would do him any permanent good, that, by some 
means or other, his understanding should be brought in 
contact with the truth ; for otherwise he will either re- 
main entirely indifferent, or the actings of his mind will 
be of no salutary tendency. But, on the other hand, you 
must take care and not too hastily presume on finding a 
man ignorant of divine truth, where you have previous- 
ly no evidence that he is so. The fact that he is in the 
humbler walks of life, is not to be taken as evidence of 
this ; — for who does not know that there are many in ob- 
scurity, who have a taste for reading and intellectual im- 
provement, and are far better acquainted with the scrip- 



229 

tures, than the mass of those whom Providence has pla- 
ced in more favored circumstances ? If, in addressing an 
individual, you take for granted that he knows nothing of 
his bible, when he is well acquainted with it, you will 
not improbably excite in him a feeling of resentment or 
disgust, which will prevent the good influence of any 
thing you may say. It is always wisest, therefore, when 
you are at loss in respect to this matter, to approach the 
person with whom you would converse gradually, and let 
his remarks reveal to you the amount of his knowledge, 
before you commit yourself by taking for granted his ig- 
norance. 

There is no case in which this precaution which I have 
suggested is more important, than where jou are temp- 
ted to be drawn into conversation with a stranger, espe- 
cially in the presence of those whose faith is not fully es- 
tablished in respect to any of the great truths of the gos- 
pel, or as the case may be, in regard to its divine authori- 
ty. More than once, when travelling in a public convey- 
ance, have I seen a man of right views, but of feeble un- 
derstanding, incautiously grappling in an argument with 
some wily infidel or heretic, who had made himself at 
home on skeptical ground ; and the consequence has been 
that the cause of truth has suffered from being thus ta- 
ken into unskilful hands ; and the lips of the well mean- 
ing advocate of sound doctrine have been closed by the 
ingenious cavils of his opponent ; and those who have 
listened, have mistaken the triumph of intellectual power 
over intellectual weakness, for the victory of truth over 
error. Many a man, and especially many a youth, has 
no doubt received his first bias in favor of infidehty, from 
hearing a lame defence of Christianity, in the circumstan- 

20 



230 

ces I am supposing ; and no one who attempts its de- 
fence in the presence of strangers, can be assured that his 
own failure, if he should happen to be unsuccessful, may 
not lead to a similar result. You may indeed be placed 
in circumstances, when travelling, which may render it 
highly desirable that you should meet objections which 
you may hear urged against Christianity, or some of its 
leading doctrines ; not only because some antidote may be 
needed at once to counteract the poison which is thus at- 
tempted to be thrown into the minds of some of your 
fellow travellers, but because your silence may be inter- 
preted by them as a virtual acknowledgment that the 
objections do not admit of being answered. Neverthe- 
less, your silence cannot, in the greatest exigency, exert 
so bad an influence as an unsuccessful attempt to reply ; 
and unless you feel satisfied on good grounds of your 
ability to sustain an argument, prudence will dictate that 
you should either say nothing, or simply state your opi- 
nion with some scripture declaration in support of it. 

There should, moreover, in the performance of this 
duty, be a proper regard to the state of the individuals^ 
mind concerning the great subject on which he is to be ad- 
dressed* 

Perhaps you may be aware that he has strong prejudi- 
ces, either against Christianity as a system, or against some 
of its fundamental doctrines ; and the very first step to- 
wards bringing him to repentance must be an effort to re- 
move these prejudices ; for so long as any leading truth 
of the bible is rejected, it is in vain to expect that the 
gospel will exert its sanctifying influence. In what man- 
ner then shall these prejudices against divine truth be en- 
countered ? It is rarely the best way to assail them di- 



231 

rectly ; for the moment you undertake to reason a man 
out of any great error, his pride is committed in its de- 
fence ; and you will be far more likely to silence, than to 
convince, him by your arguments. Though he may be 
utterly unable to defend his positions, and may seem 
quite overwhelmed by the weight of your strong reasons, 
it will not be strange if the very mortification he experi- 
ences from this result, should fortify him the more strong- 
ly in his error, and put him in search of fresh arguments 
in its vindication. In most cases, you may approach 
him more successfully, in the first instance, with some well 
adapted book ; for, in reading it, he will be less likely to 
place himself in a defensive attitude, and more likely to 
keep his mind open to conviction, than if you were ply- 
ing him with your arguments in a verbal controversy. — 
And subsequently, a recurrence to the book in private 
conversation may bring up the subject of it ; and this 
may be an easy introduction to a statement of your own 
views, as there is reason to hope that the book itself may 
have been a happy preparation for it. But if you engage 
in direct discussion, let it be conducted, on your part, with 
the utmost calmness and good nature ; and however suc- 
cessful you may be in the argument, let there not be the 
least appearance of triumph. Let it appear that your ob- 
ject is truth, rather than victory ; that your desire is to 
do good to another, rather than to display yourself; and 
there is reason to hope that an argument conducted with 
inteUigence and skill, under the influence of such a spirit, 
will not be in vain. 

You need not flatter yourself with the hope of dis- 
arming an individual of his prejudices against religion, so 
long as he is harboring a prejudice against yourself; and 



232 

it must be acknowledged that your prospect of success is 
small, provided he regards you with no higher sentiment 
than indifference. If you would attempt this under the 
most favorable auspices, I would advise you, if circum- 
stances permit, to endeavor to gain the affectionate regards 
of the individual, and keep him under the strong influence 
of your kindness, till he places an unreserved confidence 
in your friendship ; and when you have reached this 
point, it would not be strange if you should discover that 
you had little more to do, in order to undermine the fabric 
of his errors, and bring him to rest on the sure founda- 
tion. I cannot forbear here to record a case which, some 
years ago, fell under my observation, as a striking illus- 
tration of the course which I would condemn on the one 
hand, and of that which I would recommend on the oth- 
er. A youth, owing to some peculiar circumstances in 
which he had been placed in the early part of his educa- 
tion, had embraced one of the most dangerous systems 
of error ; and from the time that he became a member of 
college, he found himself branded as a heretic. Not 
being averse to propagating his errors, he was in the habit 
of disputing with every body that would engage with him ; 
and unhappily, he was too often encountered with harsh 
epithets, and in an unkind and hasty spirit, which had no 
other effect than to cherish his prejudices against the truth, 
and confirm him in his delusions. Nothing appeared but 
that his life would be devoted to the propagation of a sys- 
tem of doctrine, which, for the great purposes of salvation, 
has, in no respect, the advantage of the religion of na- 
ture ; for so inveterate had become his prejudices against 
the doctrines of the gospel, that he could scarcely bear 
to hear one of them defended or even named. But not 



233 

long before the close of his collegiate course, an individu- 
al of an uncommonly exemplary and amiable character 
joined the institution, who, from some cause or other, be- 
came specially interested for his conversion ; but the 
course which he adopted vs^as far different from that 
which had been adopted in the same case by any individu- 
al before him. He found frequent occasions for associa- 
ting with the young man, and took care to converse with 
him on topics in which he knew that he was specially in- 
terested ; and by his bland and attractive manners, his 
amiable and cheerful spirit, and his uniform and uncom- 
mon kindness, he succeeded, in an unusual degree, in 
winning his confidence and affection : and though the 
law of christian love was always upon his lips, and his 
Hfe was a constant exemplification of the power and ex- 
cellence of the gospel, a considerable time elapsed from 
the commencement of their acquaintance, before he ever 
addressed him directly and personally in respect to his 
salvation : and the occasion of it deserves to be recorded ; — 
it was when he lay pale and languid upon his bed in 
consequence of a temporary indisposition ; and his young 
friend went and stood by him to offer him his sympathy, 
and assure him of his good and affectionate wishes ; and 
the smile of benevolence played upon the sick man's 
countenance, and the spirit of resignation beamed from 
his eye ; — it was just then, when his friend looked upon 
him with the kindest and tenderest emotions, and could 
almost fancy that Christianity herself were lying there in 
her loveliness and her glory, and pleading with him to 
accept her consolations, — that that good man let fall upon 
his ear the first monitory expression ; and that expres- 
sion had in it such unearthly benignity, and yet such un- 

20* 



234 

told earnestness, that it instantly found its way to his 
heart ; and it drew tears from his eyes ; and it sent him 
away musing in solitude concerning the reality and the 
power of evangelical religion. And it was not long be- 
fore he went back to his friend, and put a question to him 
which made his heart dissolve in gratitude to God — it 
was nothing less than, " what he should do to be saved ?" 
and they knelt down together, and prayed for the regene- 
rating influences of the Spirit of God. And now that 
young man who had for years been bigotted to error, 
found his prejudices against the truth yielding like wax 
before the fire ; and he was prepared to recognise Christ 
as an atoning Saviour ; and presently, if he were not de- 
ceived, he found rest to his soul. I do not say that his 
mind was instantly established in every part of the 
truth ; — that was not to be expected — for his prejudices 
had grown with his growth, and strengthened with his 
strength ; but when his conscience came to be awakened, 
the cardinal doctrines of the gospel he embraced at once 
as his only hope ; and as for the rest, he received them 
by a gradual process, till, at no distant period, he held 
with firm conviction the whole system of evangelical 
Christianity. Had that excellent and now lamented friend 
pursued the course which was so commonly adopted in 
respect to him, and roused his prejudices by calling him 
a heretic, instead of securing his confidence by offices 
of good will, not improbably he might have been, to this 
day, groping in error, and by corrupt ministrations con- 
tributing to the ruin of his fellow men. 

As it was my privilege to be well acquainted with the 
individual to whom I have here referred as an example 
of practical wisdom ; as he was endeared to me by a 



235 

more than common friendship, and as years have passed 
away since he has entered upon his reward, I cannot resist 
the desire to leave on these pages a record of the im- 
pression I shall always bear in respect to his peculiar ex- 
cellence. His lot was cast by birth in the better walks 
of society ; and at the age of twenty-one, he was an ac- 
compUshed man of the world, without having been cor- 
rupted by its vices. Having a passion for maritime life, 
he went to sea at an early period ; and while he was yet 
comparatively young, commanded a ship in two or three 
voyages to the East Indies. At length, as he was tra- 
versing the deep without any other serious companion 
than his bible, (and of that he had been accustomed to 
make but little use,) there were thoughts that occurred 
to him in his midnight slumbers, which held his mind in 
deep anxiety during the day, and subsequently drove 
sleep from his eyes by night, and which constituted the 
beginning of a process that issued in a most unquestiona- 
ble conversion to God ; and thus it was, while he was 
making his way through the pathless ocean, girt about 
with the dark waters and the blue heavens, that he first 
learned to lift his heart and voice to his Father in Heaven, 
not as the God of nature only, but especially as the God 
of redemption. On his return home, his christian friends 
were unutterably and delightfully surprised, to find the 
gay and thoughtless sailor changed into a man of prayer ; 
and in consequence of their advice in connexion with his 
own deliberate consideration of the indications of Provi- 
dence, he resolved to quit the ocean, and devote himself 
to the christian ministry. And so he did. After going 
through with a preparatory course, he entered one of 
our colleges, where, in due time, he was honorably gradu- 



236 

ated ; and having devoted himself, for a season, to the 
study of theology, he enjoyed the delightful and long 
wished for privilege of being approved by the proper ec- 
clesiastical authority as a preacher of the gospel. His 
first efforts in the pulpit served to confirm the hope which 
his general character had already awakened, that he was 
destined to be extensively useful in the church ; but no 
sooner had he been set apart to the sacred office, and in a 
single sermon recognised the congregation over which he 
was placed as his own beloved charge, than disease fas- 
tened itself upon him with an intensity which human 
skill could not resist; and within a few short months 
death had terminated his earthly career. Every one 
seemed to mark the event as among the most mysterious 
of God's dispensations. It was one of those instances 
in which the sovereign Disposer of all things forms an 
instrument, and polishes it with exquisite beauty, and 
seems admirably to adapt it to some important end in 
this world, and then takes it up to heaven to be used for 
nobler purposes, and crowned with higher honor. 

I cannot get back from this digression without saying 
that I regard the individual to whose memory I am pay- 
ing this passing tribute, as one of the finest examples of 
christian character, and I may say of natural attraction, 
it has ever been my privilege to witness. The powers 
of his mind, though symmetrical and well balanced, were 
in no other respect particularly distinguished. But his 
heart was generous as heaven ; and it would often dissolve 
at even hearing of another's wo. His manners had been 
highly cultivated by his intercourse with polished socie- 
ty ; but they never could have been what they were — so 
gentle, so dignified, so inexpressibly engaging, if there 



237 

had not been superadded to this the benign and elevating 
influence of Christianity. His piety was a delightful com- 
pound of intelligence and feeling : while there were no 
airs of afiected sanctity, there was the spirit of deep devo- 
tion : while there was nothing that indicated an approach to 
worldly levity, there was a winning and consistent cheer- 
fulness. In his prayers, it seemed sometimes as if his 
spirit were let loose from earth, and were soaring away, 
in very deed, to heaven. I cannot believe there was a 
person on earth who knew him, that regarded him with 
indifference ; and well do I remember that, when the 
news went abroad that the grave had taken him into its 
keeping, there was a sentiment of unusual grief, as there 
always is at the death of an eminently good man. His 
name is embalmed in many hearts ; and some who read 
these paragraphs, will remember what he was, far better 
than I can describe him. May their recollections of his 
excellence quicken them in the way to heaven ! 

But to return — I can suppose that the thought may 
occur to some mind, that the course which was adopted 
in the particular case I have referred to, could not be jus- 
tified, inasmuch as it left time for the young man to die 
in his errors and sins, before he was directly warned of 
either. But to this I reply that, during the period which 
intervened between the commencement of his acquaint- 
ance with that excellent individual, and his being first 
directly addressed by him concerning the salvation of his 
soul, he saw him living every day under the controlling 
and elevating influence of evangelical piety ; and he heard 
from him much to indicate that his treasure and his heart 
were in heaven : indeed he saw and heard precisely that 
which, in the circumstances of the case, seemed adapted 



238 

to make the best impression on his mind, and to prepare 
him for what subsequently took place — a solemn person- 
al conversation respecting his eternal well-being. There 
is a kind of zeal which sets all the maxims of discretion 
at nought; and which, in this case, would, no doubt, 
have opened its batteries of warning, and possibly of de- 
nunciation, with a view to carry both the mind and heart 
by storm ; but though it might have been dictated by an 
honest conviction of duty, it would have almost inevitably 
resulted in defeating its own end. If the young man had 
actually died before the decisive conversation which 
brought him ultimately to a conviction of his guilt and 
ruin, it would still unquestionably have been true that 
the right course had been pursued with him ; for such 
was the state of his mind, that there was no reason to 
hope that the desired change could be brought about, 
without some such course of preparation as that which 
was actually adopted. 

But it may be that the individual whom you would 
address respecting his salvation, instead of being prejudi- 
ced against Christianity, or any of its peculiar doctrines, 
looks upon the whole system with indifference ; or if he 
gives to it a speculative assent, regards it with practical 
unconcern. So much is the carnal mind in love with its 
own stupidity, that there is always danger that any effort 
to arouse it, that is not conducted with great discretion, 
will result in exciting a positive prejudice against reli- 
gion itself; and that the individual will not only retain 
his wonted carelessness, but will be the better prepared to 
resist all subsequent appeals that may be made to his con- 
science. There might be instances mentioned, not a few, 
in which the careless sinner, who was a speculative be- 



239 

liever in Christianity, and regarded its institutions with re- 
spect, has been matured into a hardened infidel, and even 
a bold blasphemer, by some well meant but injudicious 
efforts designed to bring him to reflection and repentance. 
Against this evil you should guard with the utmost care ; 
and while you labor to arouse the slumbering conscience, 
should take heed that what you do is really adapted to 
produce that effect. A word fitly spoken to a careless 
sinner, on a proper occasion, will often leave a stronger 
and better impression, than the conversation of an hour 
under other circumstances ; and indeed it is often prudent 
in addressing an individual, for the first time, respecting 
his salvation, to limit yourself to a remark or two, with 
a view to ascertain the precise state of his mind, and pre- 
pare for a more explicit appeal to his conscience, rather 
tlian to say every thing to which the full heart of a chris- 
tian might naturally prompt him. And there is such a 
thing no doubt as talking to a careless sinner too much — 
as dealing out the most pungent and awful truths so fre- 
quently, that it shall come to be considered a matter of 
course ; and though he may cease to be irritated by them, 
this very circumstance may indicate that he has become 
hardened under their influence so that he is incapable of 
feehng their power. I have knowm cases in which children 
have been so continually plied with the most solemn and 
awful considerations by their pious parents, that their 
hearts have become like the nether mill stone ; and you 
might almost as well speak to the winds, as attempt to 
impress them with the obligations of religion. It is by 
no means a common error that christian parents converse 
with their children on this subject too much : on the con- 
trary, the prevailing error undoubtedly is that they con- 



240 

verse with them far too httle ; but still there are instan- 
ces in which an ardent desire for the salvation of a child 
prevails over parental discretion, and leads to the intro- 
duction of religious discourse so often that the whole sub- 
ject of religion comes to be regarded with aversion or dis- 
gust. 

Or it may be that the individual whom you wish to 
benefit has had the dream of carelessness broken up, and 
is in the posture of deep solicitude and earnest inquiry — 
the difficulty of approaching a person in this state of 
mind, is far less than in either of the cases already men- 
tioned ; though even here there is much room for the ex- 
ercise of discretion. No doubt it is the desire of every 
anxious sinner to converse with some christian friend re- 
specting his condition and his duty ; still it is often re- 
garded as a matter of great delicacy ; and many a person, 
under the influence of this feeling, has suffered weeks of 
remorse and agony to pass over him, without revealing 
his convictions even to his nearest friend. It is often ve- 
ry important, therefore, that you should approach an in- 
dividual, even in these circumstances, with some degree 
of caution ; lest you should lessen, in some measure, your 
influence with him, by impairing his confidence in your 
judgment. And there is great discretion necessary in 
giving the appropriate directions to an awakened sinner, 
in order to prevent his return to a habit of carelessness 
on the one hand, and to save him from taking up with a 
false hope on the other. The general direction to repent 
and believe the gospel it is indeed an easy matter to give ; 
but to meet the various difficulties and objections that 
may be suggested by an inquiring sinner, and to apply 
skilfully the great remedy with reference to all the varie- 



241 

ties of feeling which may occur, is one of the most diffi- 
cult duties which the christian has to perform ; and you 
never can expect to perform it in a proper manner, with- 
out a familiar acquaintance with God's word, a deep 
knowledge of the human heart derived especially from 
self communion, and the most careful and discriminating 
attention to the peculiarities of each case in which you 
undertake to be a counsellor. I may add that here, as in 
the case before referred to, there may be danger of too 
much conversation : the anxious sinner, by being con- 
stantly in the company of christian friends, and listening 
to their counsels and exhortations almost without inter- 
ruption, may be prevented from communing with his 
own heart so far as to gain an adequate knowledge of his 
sins ; or else he may place an improper reliance on the 
efforts of others, as if fAeir counsels and instructions could 
be put in the place of his repentance. No doubt it is im- 
portant that he should have the benefit of being counsel- 
led by some christian friend ; but one of the most impor- 
tant directions to be given him is, that he should pass 
much of his time in searching and probing his own heart, 
that he may have a proper view of his own character, 
and of his need of an interest in Christ's salvation. 
2. Tenderness. 
There is much in the very nature of the office to re- 
quire that it should be performed in the most affectionate 
manner ; for when you go to speak to a sinner concern- 
ing his salvation, what are some of the leading points to 
which you endeavor to direct him ? His own guilt and 
ruin ; the possibility of escaping hell and obtaining hea- 
ven ; the efficacy of atoning blood, and the power of re- 
newing grace. You go to tell him that he is laboring 

21 



242 

under a moral malady which, unless it is removed, must 
speedily issue in his eternal death ; that the Lord Jesus 
Christ came down from heaven, and died on the cross, 
that an effectual cure for this malady might be placed 
within his reach ; and that if he rejects it, he rejects the 
mercy of God in the only form in which it will ever be 
extended to him, and thereby seals the everlasting ruin 
of his soul. And are topics like these to be treated 
otherwise than in the spirit of kindness ? What would 
you say of a physician who should go to the bedside of 
a sick man apparently sinking under some alarming mala- 
dy, and should prescribe for him with an air of careless- 
ness or severity, which seemed to say that it was of lit- 
tle moment to him whether his patient lived or died ? 
Admitting even that the individual had brought himself 
into this condition by his imprudence or his vices, would 
this be considered as the semblance of a reason why his 
physician should regard his sufferings with insensibility, 
or even the appearance of it ? Shall the spiritual physi- 
cian then be wanting in tenderness, when he undertakes 
to prescribe for the disease of the soul, especially as the 
remedy which he proposes is nothing less than the blood 
of the Lamb of God ? Is there not a revolting discre- 
pancy between the tenderness of d3ang love on the one 
hand, and a cold and insensible manner of recommending 
it on the other ? 

But there is much also in your own condition^ and the 
relation you sustain to the individual whom you address^ 
which should lead you to discharge this duty with ten- 
derness. For not only is he a member of the same great 
family with yourself, a partaker of the same nature, en- 
dowed with the same capacities, and an heir to the same 



243 

interminable existence, but his spiritual condition is the 
very same from which you have just emerged ; and 
what is more, you owe it to the rich and sovereign 
grace of God that that condition is not your own at this 
hour. And besides, you are even now but partially sanc- 
tified ; you carry about with you a body of sin and death ; 
and though the Holy Spirit offers to dwell continually 
in your heart, you often grieve him away by the indul- 
gence of your corruptions. I ask you then, is it for a 
person in such circumstances, to perform such an office, 
with any other spirit than that of tenderness ? If you 
are tempted to do so, look back to the rock from which 
you were hewn, to the ruin from which 'you have but 
just escaped, and see whether you do not read in your 
past experience a rebuke to the first risings of an unkind- 
ly or even indifferent spirit. Nay, you may turn your 
eye inward upon your own heart, and observe the preva- 
lence and the power of indwelling sin ; or you may ex- 
amine your own best services, and notice the imperfec- 
tion by which they are marked ; and then bring home to 
your conscience the question whether it becomes one 
who has but thus partially escaped from the dominion of 
sin, to address one who is yet entirely under its power, 
in a manner which would seem to say, not only that he 
is perfect in holiness, but that he owes this perfection to 
no other being than himself. 

I may add also that it is necessary that this duty should 
be performed in the spirit of kindness, in order that there 
may be a reasonable hope of its being attended with suc- 
cess. There is a power in human kindness which scarce- 
ly resides in any thing else : make an individual feel that 
you are sincerely desirous of promoting his happiness, 



244 

and that you regard him with strong and deep affection, 
and no matter what may be the object you wish to gain, 
you have a hold upon him which, in all ordinary cases, 
will secure to you his cordial co-operation. I acknow- 
ledge there are cases in which the enmity of the heart 
against the truth of God is so strong, that it will hold 
out against the prayers, and tears, and tenderest expostu- 
lations, of christian friendship ; and I have known the 
man who, on all other occasions, evinced a becoming 
gentleness and benignity of spirit, kindling into rage 
when the subject of his salvation was mentioned to him 
in the kindest manner, and by his nearest friend ; but 
such cases are comparatively rare : it will almost uni- 
formly be found, where a christian approaches an unre- 
newed sinner with the spirit of kindness in his heart, and 
the law of kindness upon his lips, that he will at least 
secure a respectful and attentive hearing ; and there is 
always reason to hope, in such circumstances, that the 
truth which falls upon the ear, may penetrate the heart, 
and become the seed of a renovated nature. But, on the 
other hand, where this office is performed with an air of 
freezing indifference or cutting severity, where the person 
who undertakes it assumes the stern attitude of a dicta- 
tor, rather than the affectionate attitude of a friend, no- 
thing better can be expected than that he will kindle a spi- 
rit of resentment against himself, and what is worse — 
produce an increased aversion to the truths he endea- 
vors to inculcate. The very same truths and even the 
same words, uttered in a spirit of kindness, and in a spi- 
rit of severity, will often produce directly opposite effects. 
What is said, in each case, is equally weighty and im- 
portant ; but, in the one case, the individual feels that 



245 

you are his friend, and the kindness which breathes in 
your manner opens a passage to his heart for all that you 
say : in the other, he gets the impression that you care 
little or nothing for him, and turns away from your ad- 
monition with a degree of disgust proportioned to the se- 
verity with which it is administered. 
3. Fidelity. 
This will discover itself in leading you to take advan- 
tage of every suitable opportunity for the discharge of 
this duty. To a person who is indisposed to the perfor- 
mance of it, it is always easy to find apologies for re- 
maining silent ; and though the most favorable opportu- 
nities may occur every day, they will either pass unob- 
served, or, if they are observed, some excuse will sug- 
gest itself for allowing them to pass unimproved. It is 
easy for a person in these circumstances to imagine that 
he has not a talent at such kind of conversation ; or that 
the time may be less favorable than some other ; or that 
the relation he sustains to the individual who should be 
addressed, renders it a matter of delicacy for him to intro- 
duce such a topic, while the real fact is that he has the 
opportunity, the ability, every thing, necessary to the 
performance of this duty, except the disposition. If you 
will be faithful on this subject, you must have no such tri- 
fling with conscience ; but instead of seeking apologies for 
the neglect of opportunities which occur, you must make 
it part of the business of every day to watch for their 
occurrence. And if you do this, you will find them 
incomparably more numerous than you would expect ; 
scarcely a day will pass, but you will find yourself in 
circumstances to justify you in communing with the 
conscience of some irreligious friend ; or, at least, in 

21^ 



246 

dropping upon his ear some monitory word which, by 
God's blessing, may sink into his heart. It is proverbial 
that a man who is deeply interested for the accomplish- 
ment of any worldly object, will be vigilant for opportu-' 
nities to carry it forward, and will often turn to good ac- 
count circumstances which, at first view, might seem un- 
propitious. Let the christian act upon the same princi- 
ple — as he will, if he is faithful — and he will witness a 
similar result ; and he has reason to hope that his watch- 
fulness for opportunities of thus doing good, may be re- 
warded by the grateful benedictions of some who were 
ready to perish, and who, but for him, might have passed 
a wretched eternity. 

Fidehty in this matter discovers itself in overcoming 
an unworthy timidity, by which the christian is often tempt- 
ed to the neglect of this duty. You look upon some 
careless friend, and you realize the danger of his condi- 
tion, and the importance of some effort being made to 
waken him from his lethargy, and bring him to repent- 
ance ; but you know that this is a subject upon which 
he does not wish to be addressed ; and you fear perhaps 
that any thing you might say he would consider as indi- 
cating an unreasonable officiousness ; and that the result 
would be that he would regard you with diminished fa- 
vor — perhaps with positive aversion ; and in view of all 
this, you are ready to shrink from the duty altogether. 
But rely on it, fidelity requires that this suggestion of the 
adversary, (for you may be assured it is nothing better,) 
should be instantly and resolutely resisted ; and you are 
to gather the requisite courage for the duty by coming 
out of your own weakness, and casting yourself upon 
Him in whom dwells everlasting strength. I do not mean 



247 

that you should cultivate that boldness which laughs at 
discretion, and disregards consequences ; but I would have 
you beware of that timidity which shelters itself under 
the name of prudence, and looks on coolly and sees im- 
mortal souls perish, without ever lifting up the voice of 
admonition or remonstrance. While I am a warm advo- 
cate for genuine prudence in relation to this subject, I 
cannot doubt that much of that which assumes this name, 
has in it the elements of treason to the Master, and of 
cruelty to the souls of men. 

It is also a dictate of fidelity that you should press the 
sinner^s conscience solemnly and earnestly with the plain 
truths of God^s word. There are cases, I acknowledge, 
in which the most that the circumstances will warrant, 
and of course all that duty requires, is to let a single note 
of warning fall upon the sinner's ear; and sometimes 
even that had better come only in the form of an allusion ; 
but, if I do not greatly mistake, it is a fault with a large 
part of professing christians who intend, in some sense, 
to perform this duty, that they too often satisfy their con- 
sciences, even in the most favorable circumstances, with 
making a remark or two to an irreligious friend, which 
has some general bearing on religion, instead of entering 
into a conversation with him, which is adapted to bring 
him into the posture of serious reflection and anxious in- 
quiry. When they hear the great duty which christians 
owe to unrenewed men, expounded and urged, they take 
the comfort of thinking that there is no reproof in all this 
administered to themselves 5 because, in conversation with 
their irreligious friends, they have occasionally made an 
allusion to the doctrine of providence, or to human mor- 
tahty, or to the uncertain tenure by which we hold our 



248 

earthly enjoyments. Remember that if you will be faith- 
ful, you must do much more than this — admitting that 
there is no reason against it growing out of your pecu- 
liar circumstances, you are to endeavor, with all plain- 
ness and solemnity, to bring before the sinner's mind the 
great and awful truths of the bible ; to press them upon 
his conscience as a matter of personal concern ; to do your 
utmost to disturb the dream of impenitence, and save the 
soul from all false refuges, and bring it at once to the 
atoning Saviour. Not only by what you say, but by the 
manner in which you say it, you are to let him see that 
you are dealing in momentous realities ; and, if possible, 
to impress him with the conviction that he cannot turn a 
deaf ear to your admonitions, but at the fearful hazard of 
losing his soul. 

I know of no situation in which it is so difficult to deal 
faithfully, in this respect, with an impenitent, and espe- 
cially a careless, sinner, as when he is lying amidst the 
agonies of a death bed. Such a case, under the most fa- 
vorable circumstances, presents difficulties that are truly 
appalling ; for the mind is ordinarily in an enfeebled, or 
stupid, or agitated state ; and the body is tortured with 
pain ; and there are often important worldly concerns to 
be adjusted ; and not improbably the heart is filled with 
anguish in the prospect of a speedy separation from those 
who are most endeared to it : — all these circumstances 
seem to oppose a mighty obstacle to the efficacy of di- 
vine truth, even if it is plainly and faithfully exhibited. 
But, in many cases, there are still greater difficulties to 
be encountered : the dying man may have brought with 
him, even into the dark valley, the most obstinate preju- 
dices against the gospel ; or he may be scarcely more en- 



249 

lightened in respect to it, than if his home had been in a 
heathen land ; or his friends, out of mistaken tenderness, 
may fear to have any thing said that should alarm him, 
and possibly may even tell him that he has nothing to 
fear for the future ; or his physicians may urge the im- 
portance of his not being disturbed, alleging the possi- 
bility that medicine may yet do its office ; and finally, — 
though this is not a common case, — the dying man him- 
self may retain his aversion to God's truth to such a de- 
gree, that he will be unwilling to listen to it, even while 
his feet are beginning to slide. Where such an assem- 
blage of obstacles exist, perhaps the case, so far as hu- 
man agency is concerned, must be regarded hopeless ; 
and nothing remains for the christian who would fain 
stand by that death bed to instruct, and counsel, and warn, 
but to enter into his closet, and wrestle in faith with God 
that the sovereign and converting influences of his grace 
may be extended to that immortal spirit, before the last 
moment of its probation has fled. But no doubt some of 
these obstacles may exist, and yet the christian, by a due 
degree of firmness, and prudence, and tenderness, may 
overcome them. I will only say, if you have a friend or 
an acquaintance in these circumstances, you are bound, 
by every consideration, to do your utmost to overcome 
them ; and if that friend or acquaintance goes into eterni- 
ty without being warned of his danger, and exhorted to 
repentance, you should at least secure to yourself the con- 
solation that you were not to blame ; that you had done 
all you could to gain access to him, as a christian friend 
and counsellor, but that your best efforts had been una- 
vailing. 



250 

In respect to the particular course to be adopted in the 
case I am supposing — admitting that you have so far 
overcome the obstacles in your way as to secure an op- 
portunity for conversation — I would have you hold up 
the great truths of the gospel just as in any other case, 
unless it be that your manner should gather increased so- 
lemnity and earnestness from the consideration that you 
are communing with a soul whose destiny is just about to 
be fixed for eternity. There is no time then for specula- 
ting on unessential points, or dwelling minutely on any 
one doctrine, however important ; but if the individual is 
ignorant, you can hope for no good result unless you first 
enlighten him ; and in order for this, you must exhibit 
the truth in its utmost simplicity, and in its proper order 
and connexion. You must hold up the law in its amaz- 
ing extent and fearful sanctions, as a means of producing 
conviction of sin ; and then you must quickly exhibit the 
atoning sacrifice of Christ, and the grace of the Holy Spi- 
rit, as furnishing the only refuge into which the sinner 
can throw himself and be safe. You must distinctly 
state the terms on which salvation is offered ; and espe- 
cially the cardinal condition of faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ ; and must set forth the nature of that faith, as 
well as of other christian graces, so that he shall be guard- 
ed against building on a false foundation. And you must 
urge the peculiar circumstances of the case, as a most 
powerful consideration to lead him to immediate repent- 
ance ; especially the fact that his whole work for eterni- 
ty is yet upon his hands, and the shadows of the night of 
death are already closing around him. It is indeed a 
matter of fearful uncertainty whether any thing you can 
do will avail to the great end you wish to accomplish ; 



251 

but this uncertainty constitutes no reason why you should 
not do all that you can ; for, in this way, admitting that 
you have not neglected his immortal interests before, you 
will at least have kept yourself clear from his blood, and, 
it may be, that you will have saved a soul from everlast- 
ing death. 

There is an impression which prevails somewhat ex- 
tensively, not only among persons w^ho make no preten- 
sions to piety, but also among professed christians, that, 
in many cases at least, the subject of religion cannot be 
introduced at a sick bed, without jeoparding the recovery, 
or as the case may be, hastening the death, of the patient. 
I will not say that instances of this kind never occur ; 
and I am well aware that, along with fidelity there is a 
great demand for discretion, in the performance of this 
duty ; but I am satisfied that it is a rare case indeed that 
a sick person is injured in respect to his bodily state, by 
being properly addressed in regard to his salvation ; and 
often no doubt, the introduction of such discourse would 
be a benefit, rather than an injury, by drawing out feel- 
ings of anxiety which have been gathering in the soul, 
but which, from the pride of consistency, or the fear of 
the world, or some other consideration, the individual has 
been \m willing to disclose. A striking illustration of 
this is furnished by the following fact, which was narra- 
ted to me by one of the most eminent clergymen in this 
country. A gentleman in one of the southern states, 
who had a considerable standing in society, and had been 
for many years an infidel, was seized with a violent di- 
sease, and within a short period, was apparently at the 
gate of eternity. He discovered an unusual restlessness 
of spirit, and seemed at times to be suffering the deepest 



252 

agony ; but as his friends around him knew he had been 
accustomed to glory in his infidelity, not one of them had 
the courage to direct his thoughts to an atoning Saviour, 
or even to allude in his presence to the general subject of 
Christianity. At length, however, one of his friends, a 
clergyman, visited him, — if I mistake not, the very cler- 
gyman who gave me the information, — and in the spirit 
of christian friendship, he approached him with a refer- 
ence to the gospel as the only foundation of a sinner's 
hope ; and instantly he found that he had wakened into 
exercise the keenest sensibility ; and the secret at once 
came out that that infidel's bravery had all left him in the 
prospect of dying ; that he had for days been scarcely 
able to sustain the agony of his mind, while yet he had 
been too proud to speak of it to those around him ; and 
there he lay struggling in anguish with his infidel preju- 
dices which had gathered strength with his advancing 
years ; — and though he earnestly wished to believe in the 
christian religion, he declared that he found himself ut- 
terly unable to do it. The clergyman began by present- 
ing before him some of the simplest evidences of Chris- 
tianity ; and the sick man listened with the deepest at- 
tention, and apparently with the docility of a child: he 
then proceeded to other proofs, and gradually conducted 
him through the whole field of evidence, and showed 
him that the bible must he the word of God ; and his 
reasonings and illustrations were heard with the most so- 
lemn earnestness ; and under their influence, accompani- 
ed no doubt by the higher influence of the Spirit of God, 
those prejudices against the gospel which had been the 
growth of nearly a whole life, melted away ; and then 
the minister explained to him the great doctrines of the 



253 

gospel, and showed him that Jesus Christ was the only 
refuge, and besought him to repair to that refuge as he 
valued his soul. The consequence of all this was that, 
from the hour that infidel had an opportunity to un- 
burden himself, by acknowledging his anxiety, and giv- 
ing vent to feelings of anguish which had escaped only 
through his bewildered and terrified look, — from that hour 
the violence of his disease seemed to abate ; and though 
it ultimately proved fatal, there was every reason to be- 
lieve that his life was prolonged several weeks, in conse- 
quence of this disclosure ; and there was some ground to 
hope that, before his death, by a miracle of mercy, he ac- 
tually realized the consolations of that religion which he 
had so long regarded as a fable. 

But even admitting the possibility that an unrenewed 
sinner, in these circumstances, may experience a shock, 
from being faithfully addressed by a christian friend, 
which may hasten his disease to a fatal crisis ; — is there 
nothing after all to be said in favor of such a measure, 
from the fact that he is utterly unprepared to die, and 
that, if he leaves the world in his present state, he leaves 
it for an eternity of wretchedness ? What is the death 
of the body to the death of the soul } What is the evil 
of having this brief period of existence shortened a few 
hours, or even a few days, compared with the evil of 
running an everlasting round of ages in the world of wo ? 
Observe, I am far from admitting that such a course as I 
have suggested would be likely, in any ordinary case, to 
increase the violence of the malady, or hasten the action 
of death : I only say that if such were the case, the ob- 
jection might be most triumphantly met by a comparison 
of the interests of time with those of eternity. Is it a 

22 



254 

great matter that that jx)or dying sinner should receive a 
shock by being honestly apprized of his condition, and 
urged to immediate rejK'ntance, or that he should even be 
convulsod M'ith terror by an ellbrt to save him, while on 
tlie borders of the dark valley ; and is it a thing of no 
consideration that he should be left to sink under the in- 
fluence of deep delusion into the arms of the second 
death ? 

I have spoken of the importance of pressing the sin- 
ner's conscience with the plain truths of the bible : let 
me say that fidelity requires also that, where it is practi- 
cable, efforts of this kind should be repeated, and a course 
of effort adopted and persevered in, until, by God's bless- 
ing, the desired end is accomplished. In addressing an 
individual for the first time, you may seem to produce 
little effect upon him, and perhaps may be ready to give 
up the case as well nigh hopeless ; but after all, you may- 
have cast into his mind seed which, being carefully 
watched and faithfully watered, may spring up and bear 
fruit to eternal life. The impression which has been 
made may be so feeble that it may require but a single 
breath to efface it ; nevertheless it may be a genuine im- 
pression of God's truth ; and if followed up, it may be 
deepened into conviction of sin ; and in the train of that 
may follow a sound conversion ; and the result of the 
whole may be the salvation of the soul. Where the 
conscience has been, in any degree, awakened, there is a 
double reason why you should persevere in your efforts 
to bring the case to a favorable result ; for if the individu- 
al sinks back into his accustomed lethargy, he not only 
loses the ground he has gained in respect to the attain- 
ment of salvation, but increases the probability that no 



255 

subsequent effort that may be made to rouse him to re- 
flection will prove successful. 

I only add that fidelity requires that you should continu- 
ally recognise your dependance for the success of your ef- 
forts on the influences of divine grace. Whenever you 
are about to approach this duty, unless circumstances ab- 
solutely forbid it, you should supplicate the teachings and 
guidance of the Holy Spirit ; realizing that, without his 
aid, you will accomplish nothing, or nothing to any good 
purpose. And it is always desirable that with the con- 
versation, especially where it is continued to any length, 
and seems to awaken serious feeling in the individual 
whom it is designed to benefit, should be joined humble 
and fervent prayer ; for while this is the appropriate 
means for securing a blessing on the conversation, it is 
adapted, more than any thing else, to influence the thoughts 
and feelings directly in favor of religion. More than 
once have I witnessed an individual with apparently 
but little feeling, while he has been faithfully and earnest- 
ly addressed in respect to his salvation ; but when he 
has risen from his knees at the close of a prayer which 
has followed the conversation, I have found him dissolved 
in tears, and going away with a resolute determination 
that he would seek first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness. Remember, then, that, as your ultimate 
dependance in this matter is upon God , so you are bound 
continually to wait upon him for his blessing ; and if you 
join with your conversation not only the spirit of prayer, 
but the act of prayer, you have good reason to expect 
that your labor will not be in vain in the Lord. 

II. What are some of the considerations by which 

THIS DUTY IS ENFORCED ? 



256 

1. The importance of the interests at stake. If you 
had a friend whom you knew to be in imminent danger 
of losing a large estate, and of being plunged with his 
family into the depths of poverty, and at the same time 
were acquainted with some fair and honorable expedient, 
by means of which he might escape the calamity which 
threatened him, you would feel yourself instantly im- 
pelled, by the dictates of friendship, to apprize him of 
his danger on the one hand, and of the means of his es- 
cape on the other. But suppose that, instead of sustaining 
pecuniary loss, he was in danger of forfeiting his character, 
or at least of rendering himself unnecessarily the object of 
suspicion and reproach ; — and suppose you had it in 
your power, by a single conversation, or by several suc- 
cessive conversations, with him, to avert this evil — should 
you not feel that you had acted a part unworthy the 
character of a friend, if you made no effort to preserve 
his good name ? Or suppose, yet again, that you knew 
that a plot was maturing for the destruction of his life ; 
or that he was walking in the dark towards the verge of 
a precipice, where a fall would be certain and instant 
death ; or that, in an hour of insanity, he was making 
the strange and horrible preparation for suicide ; would 
it not be well nigh the guilt of murder that would rest 
upon you, if you did not interpose your best efforts to 
prevent so fearful a result ? But in the case to which I 
am directing your attention, there are interests involved, 
compared with which, property, reputation, life itself, 
dwindle to insignificance. That unrenewed friend w^hom 
you are called upon to admonish of his danger, and point 
into the path to heaven, has within him a spirit which 
must survive the dissolution of the body in unutterable 



257 

glory or wo ; and not an hour passes, but his destiny for 
eternity may be fixed. Fasten your eye, if you will, 
upon a period separated from the present by as many mil- 
lions of ages as you could count during a century, and 
that friend will have been continually advancing, and will 
still be advancing, and will be destined to advance eter- 
nally, into scenes of higher ecstacy, or deeper agony, ac- 
cording to the character which he possessed at the mo- 
ment when the earthly tabernacle went to ruin. If he 
dies in his present state of impenitence, the combined en- 
ergies of the whole creation could not save him from re- 
ahzing the fearful side of this momentous alternative ; 
and what you are called upon to do, is to lift up your voice, 
and reach forth your hand, to turn that immortal soul, 
if possible, into the path of endless life. Say whether 
here is not an object worthy of the most vigorous and un- 
tiring efforts ? Where is your benevolence, where your 
humanity, where especially your claim to be considered 
a disciple of Him who died that sinners might live, if you 
can see immortal beings sink into the arms of a never 
dying death, and yet say nothing, do nothing, for their 
salvation ? 

But it may be that the individual towards whom you are 
called upon to perform this duty, sustains to you a rela- 
tion of the most endearing kind : he may be your hus- 
band or your brother, your parent or your child ; and you 
may have a conviction amounting well nigh to an assur- 
ance, that he has yet to repent or perish ; and you know 
fiill well that he holds his life by so feeble a tenure that 
the motion of an atom* might break it ; — and is it possible 
that, in these circumstances, you can hesitate as to the 
question, whether you shall put forth an effort to rouse 

22* 



258 

him from his slumber? To save him from temporal 
evil — from sickness, sorrow, or death, there is no sacri- 
fice which you would not cheerfully make ; and when 
he stands before you in the attitude of a perishing sinner, 
turning his back upon heaven, sporting, it may be, in his 
own delusions, and moving onward with the rapidity of 
time towards the world of despair, is there nothing here 
to appeal to your sensibilities, or call forth your efforts ? 
I put it to your conscience, are you willing to stand still, 
and look coolly on, while the perdition of your dearest 
friends is sealed ? Have you counted the cost of this 
course, so that you are pursuing it with your eyes open 
to its results ? Have you thought of the meeting at the 
judgment ? Have you weighed well the import of that 
word eternity^ as it stands connected with the loss or the 
salvation of the soul ? 

2. The encouragement you have to expect success. If 
you look at the object towards which your efforts are to 
be directed, you may see in it much to encourage the 
hope that they will not be in vain ; for it is the same 
which, from eternity, has attracted the regards of the in- 
finite God ; for which He who is the brightness of the 
Father's glory assumed our nature, and labored, and suf- 
fered, and died ; for which he still carries forward his me- 
diatorial work ; and in which all the inhabitants of hea- 
ven rejoice, and will rejoice through eternity. Besides, 
it is an object for which the great Master has explicitly 
commanded his people to labor, and to labor in this very 
way ; and has abundantly indicated to them his pleasure, 
that if they labor with a right spirit, and in a proper man- 
ner, their efforts shall be crowned with a blessing. Is 
there not enough then, Christian, to encourage you to be 



259 

faithful in this work, in the fact that it has drawn out the 
heart of everlasting love, and that you are commanded 
to engage in it by Him who hath called you to virtue and 
glory ? Does the certain prospect of success encourage 
you to labor assiduously and perseveringly for a great ob- 
ject ? What other case can be proposed in which there 
are such considerations to indicate the certainty of success, 
as in that to which your attention is here directed ? 

But I must not forget to say that there is a voice on 
this subject in the experience of the church : they who 
have faithfully performed the duty which I am urging, 
have actually found that a blessing has followed their la- 
bors ; and, in instances without number, they have been 
permitted to witness the result in a thorough conversion 
to God. How many young persons are there now in the 
church, bringing forth much fruit to the honor of Christ, 
whose thoughts were first directed to religion by a pious 
parent, or sabbath school teacher, or other near friend, in 
some retired but faithful conversation ! And if we knew 
the whole history of every revival of religion, no doubt 
we should find that not a small part of those who be- 
come the subjects of converting grace, are first roused 
from their lethargy by means of some private appeal to 
the conscience. Indeed with the exception of the preach- 
ing of the gospel, this is the most direct and powerful 
means which God has appointed for the conversion of 
men ; and this must be an accompaniment even of preach- 
ing, in order to secure to the latter its best effect. Ac- 
cordingly it will be found, in all ordinary cases, that, just 
in proportion to the amount of discreet, tender, faithful, 
conversation, which christians hold with men of the 
world, will be the degree of anxious inquiry, and the 



260 

number of sound, scriptural conversions. In view of the 
blessing with which God has actually crowned the faith- 
ful efforts which his people have made for the salvation 
of sinners, what christian but will be encouraged to go 
forward with increased alacrity and zeal ? 

3. The influence which will he exerted upon your own 
character. The spirit which animates to a faithful dis- 
charge of this duty, is a spirit of benevolence. It is the 
nature of any feeling to grow strong by exercise ; and 
this is as true of the kindlier and better feelings as of any 
other. Let an individual be accustomed to labor in any 
way for the benefit of his fellow men, and especially to 
have the spirit of active kindness awakened in view of 
their necessities or suflferings, and the consequence will 
be that a habit of benevolent feeling will soon be formed 
which will constitute one of the leading features of his 
character. In addressing an unrenewed sinner in respect 
to his salvation, provided you do it with a right spirit, 
you are performing the most benevolent work in which 
you can engage ; — a work too which always requires 
much wisdom, and in many cases great self denial. Here 
then is an opportunity for the development and culture of 
the christian graces : he who practically recognises his 
obligation to labor for the conversion of his fellow men, 
is himself in a way to be blessed with larger measures of 
divine influence ; to abound more in humility, in zeal, in 
love to the souls of men, in a regard to the honor of Christ, 
in every thing in short which goes to makeup the chris- 
tian character. And in confirmation of this statement, I 
ask whether you do not expect to find, and whether you 
do not actually find, the brightest examples of faith and 
piety in those who address themselves most faithfully to 



261 

this great duty ? Are not those the individuals who, in 
all other respects, are most exemplary, and whose whole 
deportment furnishes the most unequivocal testimony to 
the sanctifying power of the gospel ? If you desire then, 
Christian, to rise to a high point in religious attainment, 
and to have the world habitually take knowledge of you 
that you have been with Jesus, and to be able, while you 
are yet an inhabitant of the earth, to approximate to the 
glorified character of the inhabitants of heaven ; you sure- 
ly will find in this desire a sufficient inducement to labor, 
to the extent of your ability, for the salvation of your 
fellow men. 

4. The glory of your everlasting reward. It were a 
privilege and an honor greater than human language can 
describe, to labor for the conversion of men, if the ser- 
vice thus performed were not to be recognised at all in 
your final retribution ; because you are hereby associated 
with angels, and even with Jehovah himself in the no- 
blest of all his works. But what you do in this way has 
a relation to the future, the importance of which out- 
runs the farthest stretch of human comprehension. Yes, 
every faithful effort you make to bring back the wander- 
ing sinner to the path of holiness, will be a seed of bless- 
edness in your own soul, which will spring up, and bear 
fruit in the next world. Even if your kindness should 
be requited with calumny, if the individual whom you 
may desire to benefit by your counsels and expostulations, 
should scornfully refuse to listen to them, and thereby 
seal his own perdition, still your fidelity shall not go with- 
out its reward. It will contribute, in some way, to 
swell the joy of your immortal existence, even though 
the abuse of it should serve, at the same time, to height- 



262 

en the undying anguish of that soul, towards which it 
has been exercised. But suppose you should meet in 
heaven a soul redeemed by the blood of Christ, but awak- 
ened and converted through your humble instrumentality ; 
suppose it were not a stranger, but the child of your af- 
fections or the companion of your bosom ; suppose there 
were not a solitary individual, but many individuals ; and 
suppose they should point you back to the very conver- 
sation in which you first engaged with them in reference 
to their salvation, and should contemplate with rapture 
its bearings upon their subsequent course, and especially 
should connect with it the eternal weight of glory, and 
should heap upon you their grateful benedictions, as the 
instrument by which their deliverance was effected ; — 
and I am sure you will say that, in view of such a meet- 
ing, it is easy to comprehend at least one of the elements 
of your reward. What that reward will be in all the 
height and depth of its glory, the light and experience 
of eternity alone can reveal ; but surely, enough is to be 
known in respect to it, to convict every professing chris- 
tian of unutterable folly, who does not labor for its attain- 
ment. 

III. What can be done to elevate the tone 
OF FEELING AND ACTION iu rcspcct to this important 
branch of christian duty ? 

1 . Let every professing christian resolve to act habitu- 
ally under a proper sense of his own personal responsi- 
bility^ 

One great reason why this duty has been hitherto so 
much neglected, is, that professors have looked to each 
others' example, and have kept each other in counte- 
nance in doing nothing. They may have sometimes felt 



263 

pressed with their obligations to this duty, and formed a 
partial determination to engage in it ; but they have look- 
ed around in the circle in which they move, and have 
perceived that they could not attempt it but at the ex- 
pense of being somewhat singular ; and the result has 
been that they have kept along in the current, sustained 
by the reflection that, if they were in the wrong, almost 
every other professor was in the wrong with them. 
Now, in opposition to such a course, you must realize 
that you have a personal responsibility resting upon you 
which cannot even be shared by any other human being : 
others have indeed responsibilities of their own ; and 
they are bound, as truly as yourself, to warn the wicked 
of his wicked way, and, if possible, to save his soul 
from death ; but your obligation to this duty is as com- 
plete as if you were the only being in the universe on 
whom it devolved. Hold this thought then habitually 
to your minds ; and regard it as an important part of the 
economy of your christian life, that this service, however 
much of difficulty or self denial it may involve, should be 
faithfully performed. Let your conduct in this respect be 
governed by rules which are the result of meditation and 
prayer ; and consider it a part of your duty to lend your in- 
fluence to the salvation of sinners in the way that has been 
described, just as truly as it is to bow the knee in the 
closet, or wait upon God in the sanctuary. Regard it as 
one of the great objects of your adoption into the family 
of God, and of your introduction into the visible church ; 
and, with such impressions rendered abiding and opera- 
tive by the grace of the Holy Spirit, it cannot be but 
tiiat your efforts will produce an effect that will be felt 
on every side of you. If every professor would adopt 



264 

this course, who can tell the amount of blessing which 
would thereby be secured ? 

2. Let professing christians keep this object prominent-' 
ly in view in their intercourse with each other. You 
meet each other, from time to time, in the common con- 
cerns of life ; and have a few moments that you can de- 
vote to religious conversation ; — or else you meet as a 
band of christians, for the express purpose of communing 
together in regard to the interests of Christ's kingdom : — 
in either of these cases, you cannot be more profitably 
occupied, than in stirring each other up to this great 
object, in communicating to each other the result of your 
own efforts in respect to it, and in devising and carrying 
forward plans for its accomplishment. And if meetings 
of christians were occasionally held, in a retired way, 
with special reference to this object, no doubt the best 
results might be expected ; for while such a measure 
would be likely to bring out many important practical 
suggestions, it would awaken a deeper sense of responsi- 
bility, and call forth a larger amount of fervent prayer 
and efficient effort. Only accustom yourselves to confer 
together frequently on this subject, and to hold to each 
others' minds in connexion with it the infinite value of 
the soul, the danger that it will be lost, the love of God, 
the compassion of Jesus, and the efficacy of atoning 
blood ; and you will get your hearts imbued with that 
spirit of heavenly charity, which will lead you to do 
your utmost to save every soul within your reach. 

3. Each particular church or community of christians 
ought to feel a responsibility in reference to this subject* 
Each individual member ought, as has already been re- 
marked, to consider it part of his duty to labor in this 



265 

way, as he has opportunity and ability ; but beside these 
exertions of a more private and occasional sort, there 
should be, so far as practicable, a regular course of effort 
conducted by means of some distinct organization. The 
system of tract distribution, which has been adopted ex- 
tensively, within a few years, might be advantageously 
extended to every city and populous town ; and where it 
is judiciously conducted, it is adapted to produce the hap- 
piest results. I cannot forbear to say, however, that, 
like every other good thing, it is liable to great abuse ; 
and perhaps there are scarcely any of the minor parts of 
the benevolent machinery of the day, which need to be 
entrusted to more prudent hands. It has sometimes hap- 
pened that individuals to whom this office has been com- 
mitted, have entered families in the higher circles of so- 
ciety, in a manner which has bordered closely upon 
rudeness ; and when the tract has been refused again and 
again, they have persisted in leaving it ; and in due time 
have called for it and insisted upon knowing whether it 
had been read; and have uttered not only counsels, but 
reproofs, in a spirit which has indicated zeal without 
wisdom, and has produced evil without any mixture of 
good. And there is reason to fear that the occasional oc- 
currence of such instances of imprudence, has, in some 
cases, diminished both the credit and the efficiency of an 
admirable system. But let this plan be carried into effect 
with prudence as well as zeal ; let individuals designated 
for the purpose, go around and leave a tract wherever it 
will be kindly received ; and let them return in due time 
and, in the spirit of good will and affection, converse with 
the members of the family, with a view to enforce the 
great truths which the tract has presented ; and let them 

23 



266 

do this with a judicious reference to circumstances, and 
it is not easy to estimate the amount of good which may 
thereby be accomplished. You may gain access to many 
minds in this way, which you could approach in no oth- 
er ; and may actually carry the truth, by means of a 
tract, to some who are sitting in the shadow of death, 
while yet they are surrounded with the broad sunshine 
of gospel day. 

There may be another form of organization, not less 
efficient than the preceding ; though this also is more es- 
pecially adapted to populous towns : — Let the officers of 
a church, or other members who are competent to the 
work, agree to sustain religious meetings in different dis- 
tricts, with special, though not exclusive, reference to 
the lower classes : let these meetings be conducted by 
prayer, by reading the scriptures and perhaps some brief 
and pungent discourse ; and in connexion with this there 
may very profitably be a word of exhortation adapted to 
the circumstances of those who are assembled. Let such 
a course be judiciously and zealously pursued, and the re- 
sult will probably be that, at no distant period, there will 
be anxious inquirers to be conversed with ; and this may 
lead to the establishment of another meeting, with refe- 
rence to that particular class ; and thus the field of labor 
will widen, while there will be need of an increased de- 
gree of that wisdom which cometh down from above, in 
order successfully to occupy it. I would, by no means, 
discourage associations for this object, of a more private 
nature ; but I cannot but think that it would be well if 
there were some such organization as I have described 
connected with every church, which should be subject to 
the control of its officers, or such other persons as might 



267 

be designated for the purpose. In this way, while a 
more general interest would be likely to be awakened in 
reference to the great object, the meetings which should 
be held would probably possess more attraction, and com- 
mand higher respect, and accomplish greater good. 

4. Let christians in general, as they xoould desire to see 
this important object accomplished^ cultivate a more deepy 
earnest, and consistent piety. Most of the obstacles 
which stand in the way of the faithful performance of 
the duty I am urging, originates in a low state of reli- 
gious feehng on the part of professed christians. To 
mention only one — no doubt many a professor refuses to 
obey the dictates of his conscience prompting him to this 
duty, on the ground that, if he were to attempt to per- 
form it, he would seem to be contradicting the whole 
tenor of his daily conversation : he is so uniformly seen 
exhibiting a spirit of worldliness, and perhaps is so fre- 
quently found in circles of gaiety, and has so little in his 
intercourse with the world that indicates any concern for 
the salvation of men, that, even if he is sometimes pressed 
with his obligations on this subject, the fact of his being 
aware that he is regarded as a mere worldling, will fur- 
nish a strong temptation to him to put conscience asleep, 
lest the individuals whom he might attempt to address 
should be startled by his inconsistency. But let him 
constantly aim at a high standard of religious character, 
and let his conduct on every occasion be seen to be con- 
sistent with his christian profession, and he will be sub- 
ject to no such embarrassment as I have described : on 
the contrary, he will be able to approach his careless 
friends, on the subject of their salvation, with a freedom 
inspired by the consciousness that he is acting in consis- 



268 

tency, not only with his religious profession but with his 
daily deportment. 

But there is a more direct influence exerted here to- 
wards the attainment of this end. Let there be a spirit 
of earnest and elevated piety, and there will of course be 
a tender concern for the salvation of men. Let the chris- 
tian have his own soul deeply imbued with the love of 
Christ ; let him have intimate communion with God, and 
bright views of heaven, and solemn impressions of eter- 
nity, and rely on it, this will make him watchful for op- 
portunities to discharge this duty ; it will infuse into his 
counsels and expostulations a tenderness and an earnest- 
ness which will be well adapted to open a way to the 
heart ; it will quicken his invention in devising, as well 
as call forth his energy and perseverance in executing, 
plans for bringing the truth of God in contact with the 
conscience of every sinner, whom it is in his power, 
either directly or indirectly, to approach. In accordance 
with this representation, it will be found that, just in pro- 
portion as a spirit of elevated piety has pervaded any 
community of christians, the obligation to labor for the 
salvation of sinners has been recognised, and ordinarily 
a blessing has followed, proportioned to the amount of 
effort and prayer with which it has been sought. 

Would to God that the whole community of the disciples 
of Christ, of every name and of every nation, realized 
the importance of rising up to higher attainments in pie- 
ty, as a means of carrying forward the great work of con- 
verting the world ! To say nothing of the influence 
which would thereby be exerted in bringing christians to 
pray more fervently, and contribute more liberally, for 
the conversion of the heathen^ — how manifest is it that 



269 

the cause of the Redeemer in christian lands would ad- 
vance with increasing rapidity, and that sinners would be 
brought, in far greater numbers, to bow to the sceptre of 
sovereign grace ! Let the church then realize that her 
power is in proportion to her piety. Let her put on the 
garments of sackloth and sit in the dust, in view of her 
having given out so feeble and dubious a light to a world 
lying in wickedness. Forgetting the things that are be- 
hind, let her press forward to those which are before. — 
Let her endeavor to recover the glory of the apostolic 
age ; — not the glory that was conferred by its miracles, 
but that which arose out of its deep, self denying and un- 
compromising piety. Let the spirit which animated the 
church in that period return to her now, and ere the pre- 
sent generation shall have tasted death, she may be giv- 
ing thanks to God that the morning of a brighter day is 
spreading itself over the world. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesiii^^ Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct. 200S 

Preservationlechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN Pt^P RVATION 

111 Thomson Park Dnve 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-211 1 



